


















I 


f 


I 











THE 




■ 


ESSAYS, LURID LEAVES, 
SKETCHES, SPARKS, 


A STANDARD WORK 

ON 1 i 

I 

FIRE MATTERS. 

f i 

- 

V., 

'■' m" 

BOSTON: 

H. L. CHAMPLIN. 

1875. 

T 









Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1875, hy 
HENRY L. CHAMPLIN, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 




Stereotyped by Regan & Cashman, 
15 Cornhill, Boston. j 


I 


INTRODUCTION. 


I 

rjiHIS volume has been prepared expressly 
for the Firemen of America and their 
friends, to whom it is respectfully dedi- 
I cated. 

The author and compiler has endeavored 
to comprehend and gratify the wishes of 
firemen for a condensed treatise on matters 
pertaining to their special calling ; and hence 
a general synopsis on the subject is herewith 
I presented. 

It is believed that no book heretofore 
IDublished so fully and thoroughly covers 
I the entire fire-field as does this publication ; 

I 

, it presenting, in brief, nearly all that is of 
interest or value to those for whom it is 
designed. 








IV 


INTKODUCTION. 


As collateral to the main subject, Archi¬ 
tecture, Building, and Insurance have re- | 
ceived consideration in the general elabora- ! 
tion, and the article ”What Constitutes Fire 
Proof Construction?” is commended to the 
attention of those who plan and build. Many 
of the "Sketches” and "Sparks” will be 
found interesting to all classes of readers. 

It is not assumed that the book, as a lit¬ 
erary production, is aught else than original 
and compiled patchwork, with its weft and 
woof of fire ; but as a Manual for Firemen it 
may supply a want long felt. The few 
selections are from reliable sources, and the 
entire work is issued with the belief that it 
is substantially correct in its figures, details, 
deductions and generalizations. 

That whatever merit the book may possess 
will be appreciated by its readers, is con¬ 
fidently expected. c. 




OOl^TEITTS. 


-•o*- 


THE ORIGIN OF FIRES. 

The Subject presented. —Three mysterious Conflagra¬ 
tions in Philadelphia. — Many Fires result from 
Ignorance and Carelessness ; some from Incendia¬ 
ries, and others from causes not preventable. — 
Building and Insurance discussed ... 7 

THE FIRE ALARM TELEGRAPH. 

Its Inventor and Early History.—The “Central Sys¬ 
tem” and its modus operandL —Lightning literally 
in Harness to serve Firemen . . . . 25 ‘ 

FIRE EXTINGUISHING APPARATUS. 

Speculations as to what constituted the First Extin¬ 
guishers. — The Newman Invention'of the 17th Cen¬ 
tury. — Descriptions of the various Engines used up 
to the present time. — The Steam Fire Engine : its 
Invention and Histoiy detailed. — Full descriptions 
of the “ Reciprocating” and “Rotary” Classes of 
Machines.—The “ Annihilator ” . . . 53 

MUSTERS AND TESTS. 

Their uses. — How they are conducted. — They fonn 
Eras of Good Fellowship. — Tests do not always 
prove the superiority of the Winning Machines 87 

LURID LEAVES. 

The Ash Giants. — Descriptions of the Conflagrations 

(V) 






VI 


CONTENTS. 


in New York, of 1835, 1845 ; San Francisco, 1851 , 
Sacramento, 1852 ; Philadelphia, 1850 ; Portland, 
1866 ; Chicago, 1871, 1874 ; Boston, 1873 . 93 

SKETCHES. 

Fires. —Godliness. — Fire Boat. — Hose Elevator. — 
Fuel. —Model Engine House. —Fugitive on Fire. — 
A Look Backwards. — Rounding a Period. — Chicago 
Monument. —Fire and Water-proof Floors. — Obey¬ 
ing Orders. — Volunteers. — Fires of History. — Fox¬ 
tail Burners. — The Holly System. —Notable Gather¬ 
ing. — Firemen’s Literature. —Fire from the Sky. — 
A Novelty. — Step by Step. —Fire and Water-proof 
Fabric. — The Greenwood Monument. — Send alons: 
Water. — Fountains, — A Puzzler. — Length and 
Weight.—Whirligig Nozzle. — Insurance Brigades. 

— Fuss. — Chemical Engine. —Little Squirt, —Hose 
Carriages. — Substitutes for Water. — Charitable 
Associations. — Fires at Sea. — Instruction and Drill. 

— Burning of Moscow.—After a Great Fire.—No 

more Fires. — The Fireman. — Burning of the Tene¬ 
ment Block. 133 

WHAT IS FIRE-PROOF CONSTRUCTION ? 

Views of a celebrated English Architect . 161 

SPARKS. 

A large Number and Variety of “Shorts,” some of 
which are brilliant, others rather dim—all interesting 
and valuable ....... gqq 



THE ORIGIN OF FIRES. 


■f- 




Jp^IRE, as a servant and friend, is useful 
and agreeable; as a master and an 
enemy, fire is a tyrant and a destroyer which 
requires, in this country alone, a standing 
army of more than 300,000 men -to watch 
and fight. Great conflagrations are almost 
constantly occurring in some parts of our 
vast domain, and a record of the fires which 
daily happen in the world would fill a 
volume. Some days whole villages are de¬ 
stroyed, —insurance stocks go down and 
insurance companies “go up,” and no incon¬ 
siderable percentage of the productive 
industry of the country is swallowed up 

(7) 



8 


THE FIREMAN. 


in repairing the damages done by fire. The I 
Fire Marshal of Philadelphia, in his recent 1 
report, characterizes 18G9 as the most ex -1 
traordinary year ever known in the history 
of fires in that city. While the majority of 
the fires were soon checked, and caused 
comparatively trifling damage, yet there 
were a few of them which were most ter¬ 
ribly destructive conflagrations. Concerning 
three of the greatest fires, the origin will 
probably never be certainly known. Ttie 
great destruction of tha Paterson ware¬ 
house far exceeded that of any previous fire 
in the city. The ‘ ‘ Caldwell ” fire destroyed 
a range of magnificent buildings, which had 
been built in the most substantial manner, 
and were supposed to be fire-proof. And 
the capacious snd splendid new hall of the 
Commercial Exchange Association was sud-^^ 
denly wrapped in flames. These three fires 
entirely baffled the patience and ingenuity 


THE ORIGIN OF FIRES. 


9 


of the authorities who made search for the 
cause. Ill each case it was ascertained, 
beyond a doubt, that there was no possibil¬ 
ity of incendiary origin. Everybody had 
some hypothesis or other to offer, especially 
in the case of the Caldwell con£lao:ration, 
and newspapers were, for weeks, full of all 
HIM liner of suggestions, as to how the dis¬ 
aster occurred. Considering the immense 
destruction of property by fire, every year, 
the satisfactory explanation of the origin of 
every one becomes a matter of general and 
particular importance. If a fire is the result 
of design, it is a matter of interest to know 
the offender, that he may be dealt with as 
his sins may deserve, and put under lock 
and key, out of temptation to repeat his 
villainy. If it has been caused by careless¬ 
ness, or by ignorance of the laws of spon¬ 
taneous combustion, we need to know it, 
so as to be on our guard against a repetition 


10 


THE FIREMAN. 


of similar calamity. The fire losses of 1869,1 
ill the whole country, amounted to about] 
$40,000,000. • Of this, about $3,500,000' 
were in the city of New York, and some-] 
what over $5,000,000 in Philadelphia, the 
immense destruction of whiskey and other ^ 
bonded stores at the Paterson warehouse 
accounting for the great difference between 
the two cities. 

The Marshal, who has given as much at¬ 
tention to this matter as anv man in the 
United States, gives several suggestions in 
reference to fires which proceed from care¬ 
lessness, as well as those which have their 


origin in incendiarism. 


He thinks Americans are the most care¬ 
less people in the world. We overcrowd 
the floors of large buildings with merchan¬ 


dize of an inflammable nature. We construct 
our buildings carelessly, making them merely 
tinder boxes. Many even of our first-class 


THE ORIGIN OF FIRES. 


11 


buildings are mere traps, with imperfections 
in their heating apparatus, which lead to 
sudden combustion. We leave stoves and 
lights at nights in such a way that it is only 
by the special interposition of Providence 
that the premises are not destroyed before 
morning. We empty our ashes into wooden 
boxes, and place them under the stairs. 
We leave dirty and greasy rubbish in base¬ 
ments and attics, to cause spontaneous 
combustion. We leave matches to be nib¬ 
bled by rats and mice. We handle with 
the most improvident recklessness illum¬ 
inating fluids which are as explosive as 
nitro-glyceriiie. As regards the origin of 
incendiary fires, he attributes their increase 

to : — 1st. The general demoralization of 

« . 

society, and growing lawlessness. 2d. The 
low standard of morality among certain 
business men. 3d. Reckless and excessive 
Insurance, and the ignoring of the moral 
hazard in underwriting policies. 


12 


THE EIRExMAN. 




It is a sorry comment on our lack of 
siiccees in investigating the causes of fires,- 
and in bringing incendiaries to justice, that' 
in 1869, only three persons were convicted 
of arson in New York, and only five in 
Philadelphia. 

The Fire Marshal of San Francisco, in'! 
the report of his oflice from July 1st, 1869, 


to June 30th 1870, gives the total number of; 


i 


fires as two hundred and eighty-one. Of 

<! 

these twelve were caused by ashes ; eighty- ^ 
four by carelessness with candles, fire 
lamps and matches; thirty-three by de¬ 
fective chimneys; twelve by gas lights, and 
thirty-nine known to be incendiary. 

The Philadelphia and San Francisco 


Marshals agree that in the black catalogue of 
human transgressions, there is no penal 
offence so arduous and so 2 )erplexing to deal 
with as that of arson. Next in enormity to 
murder, it is a crime engendered by the 




THE ORIGIN OF FIRES. 


13 


most diabolical promptings of the heart. 
Base and cowardly in its conception, it is 
always concocted in secret, and its perpe¬ 
tration is ever covert and stealthy. Hence 
the detestable and wicked act is generally 
enveloped in mystery and darkness, and the 
incendiary hides his tracks so completly as 
often to bid defiance to disclosure. While 
in the wake of all other crimes in the 
calender there are starting points to direct 
the detective, incendiarism seldom leaves a 
trace. All the evidences of guilt usually 
perish with the fire itself. . The appointed 
agent who undertakes the task of detecting 
the infernal deed, is generally obliged to 
commence his investigations without a soli¬ 
tary clue, and is compelled to group in 
the dark at every step. Success occasionally 
crowns his exertions, but in many cases, 
after the exercise of all his sagacity and 
skill, as well as the most untiring persever- 


14 


THE FIREMAN. 


ance, he fails to secure adequate proof of 
guilt. He frequently discovers enough to 
establish a clear moral case against the dis¬ 
trusted person, yet is unable to obtain 
evidence sufficient to warrant a verdict of 
guilty in a Court of Justice. The total 
number of convictions for arson in Califor¬ 
nia to July 1st, 1870, was only forty-five, 
and the average term of imprisonment of 
the criminals, four years four months and 
eight days. 

The New York Fire Department Com¬ 
mittee on combustables, in their last report, 
say that “the casualties, in loss of life and 
property and injuries to person, arising from 
careless handling and the use of inferior 
kerosene oil, have been very great, averaging 
one fire or serious injury to person every 
day, and the loss of one life every week. 

The sale of compounds of benzine, naph¬ 
tha, and kerosene, under the name of liquid 


THE ORIGIN OF FIRES. 


15 


gas—so named by parties claiming that 
by chemical and other processes, their ex¬ 
plosive and dangerous qualities had been 
destroyed — has resulted in most disastrous 
consequences, from the deceptive illusion in 
the mind of persons induced to use it, 
believing it harmless, when, indeed, its use 
proved most dangerous. 

A Chief Engineer of the Boston Fire 
Department, in discussing the causes of fires, 
says, "it appears from the statistics of fires 
in every large city in our Union, that thirty 
per cent have been traced to the following 
causes, viz : The deposit of ashes in wood¬ 
en boxes or barrels, where they have been 
known to retain their heat sufficient for 
weeks to set fire. Defective flues, the result 
of faulty masonry, and other causes, are a 
fruitful source of fires. Look in whatever 
direction you may, you will see chimneys, 
partially or completely honey-combed from 


16 


THE FIREIVIAN. 


the action of the coal gases, and their tops 
out of line so as to jeopardize, in windy 
weather, the lives and limbs of pedestrians 
passing along the streets. The unsafe man¬ 
ner in which hot air furnaces and steam- 
pipes are constructed must he apparent to 
all, from the large number of fires constantly 
taking place in every town and city in the 
State, and especially in churches, and large 
public buildings. It would seem almost 
incredible that such a manifest disregard for 
the safety of life and property could exist; 
but such is the fact. I know that many, and 
especially those that are engaged in putting 
in steam pipes for heating, assert that fire 
cannot be produced by steam pipes coming 
in contact with wood; but years of expe¬ 
rience in this department have proved to the 
contrary ; for wood, subjected to a constant 
heat, becomes in time chemically changed in 
its nature, dessication is constantly going on, 


THE ORIGIN OF FIRES. 


17 


exhausting the oxygen contained in the wood 
in its natural state, leaving it composed of 
nearly pure carbon, when the slightest in¬ 
crease of heat over that to which it is ordin¬ 
arily subjected will produce combustion. 
Then again, in case of fire in the building, 
from any other cause, with steam pipes 
improperly constructed, the wood, by con¬ 
tact, becomes as described above, and the 

« 

fire appears in all parts of the building at 
one and the same time, thereby rendering 
the efibrts of the firemen unavailable to its 
early extinguishment.” 

The frequency and alarming destructive¬ 
ness of conflagrations should render them 
not only a theme for discussion, but for 
legislative and scientific investigation, so 
directed as to divise some means by which 
they may be prevented. An examination 
into many great conflagarations will disclose 
three prominent causes. The chief is, with- 


18 


THE FIREMAN. 


out doubt, individual carelessness. Noa 

vjl 

action, leglislative or other, will ever avert j 
the danger arising from this. But while tliej 
cause cannot be wholly removed, attentionj 
should be turned to results, and endeavor sol 
further to increase the efficiency of appli-* 
ances for discovering, announcing and ex-| 
tinguishing fires, as to prevent their spread¬ 
ing with disastrous speed and fatality. The | 

^ ^ ■ I 

second cause is arson, and this, although 
fearfully on the increase, can be almost 
entirely prevented by united and determined 
action on the part of insurance companies, 
and stringent legislation.^ A third promi¬ 
nent cause of great fires is often lost sight 
of, or if recognized at all, is practically 
disregarded by insurers, blinded, as they too 
often are, to its importance by the hallucina¬ 
tion that volume of premiums is synonymous 
with success. There is a want of dis¬ 
crimination against poorly constructed and 



THE ORIGIN OF FIRES. 


19 


dangerous buildings. The custom of charg¬ 
ing the same, or about the same rate upon 
buildings apparently of about the same 
construction, is absurd. The study of details 
in constuction, of those obscure but import¬ 
ant differences between non-hazardous and 
extra-hazardous, receives far too little atten¬ 
tion from insurance men. Because a buildins: 
is made of brick, with walls, perhaps, of 
the standard thickness, and every surface 
indication of being equal -to others of a 
standard class, it does not follow that it 
should, be insured at the rate of a standard 
buildino:. To those who have not had much 
practical experience as underwriters, or who 
have not made the profession of fire under¬ 
writing a study, it seems improbable and 
almost silly that one brick building in the 
same block, of the same height, with the 
same exposures and occupancy, should be 
worth twice as much to insure as another. 


20 


THE FIREMAN. 


The merchant or manufacturer who occu¬ 
pies it will laugh at the bare suggestion of 
such a thing, and write down the agent who 
ventures to suggest it as an extortioner or 
an ass. Nevertheless, it is often the case. 
And if there is not one worth twice as much 
as another, it is difficult to find two buildings 
in any one block, though built of the same 
material and apparently in the same way, 
that will be rated the same by a skilful and 
experienced surveyor. Slight and hidden 
difierences in the character of the material 
used or the quality of the work done, will 
convert what otherwise would have been, 
and to a cursory inspection seems to be a first 
class structure, into a mere man trap, sure 
to be entirely consumed if fire once breaks 
out in it, or sure to fall a shapeless ruin at 
the first touch of the destroying element. 

A respectable appearing block of brick 
buildings was recently destroyed by fire, 


THE ORIGIN OF FIRES. . 


21 


because a tamed crow let fall on the flat 
roof, covered with prepared paper, a toy 
vase containing matches. The toy smashed, 
igniting the matches, and a fresh wind blew 
the tiny fire into a great flame. Had the 
roofing been slate, or even shingle, instead 
of a ”patent” of paper, tar, and gravel, the 
freak of a mischievous bird would not have 
destroyed the structure. 

Insurance companies and agents can, by 

proper discrimination, do much to. remedy 

this. They can do justice to those who 

construct good buildings, and who deserve 

the benefit of low rates, in consideration 

of their comparative security from fire; 

and then the erection of superior structures 

will be greatly encouraged. On the other 

hand, they can and should charge such 

high, but only adequate rates upon the 
$ 

pretentious shells and dangerous man-traps. 

No doubt that the origin of many great 


22 


THE FIRE3IAN. 


fires has been either accident, carlessness 
or crime, and not because of defective 
buildings; but if the buildings had been 
constructed as they should have been the 
fires could have been confined, by ordinary 
efibrt, to the spot where they originated, or 
to a comparatively small space, and the 
great conflagarations would be the exception, 
and not the rule. Until underwriters shall 
place every risk upon its own merits — until 
there shall be a uniform and thorouHi 
system of survey, discriminating in favor 
of good buildings, and charging high rates 
for others, with merciless certaitny,—there 
will be little improvement in the security or 
permanance of our architecture. Property 
owners, builders and architects, can in no 
other way be so, well instructed as through 
the medium of their pockets. 

But no matter how thoroughly buildings 
may be constructed, so long as alt the 


THE OKIGIN OF FIRES. 


23 


materials are not absolutely incombustable, 
fires will occur, even if all "fire bugs” were 
exterminated. In many cases cliemical ox¬ 
idation, or spontaneous combustion, is the 
origin of fires which seem mysterious. 
There are new chemical agents now used in 
the every-day business of life, with which 
even professional, chemists are but indiffer¬ 
ently acquainted. Not only with-the newly 
discovered substances and agents is this 
the case, but in articles which have long 
been familiar, are found latent powers of 
combustion, which are aroused into action 
by simple contact with other chemical agents 
equally harmless in themselves. Many fires 
have been caused by spontaneous combus¬ 
tion, which originate from the oxidation of 
linseed oil. Heat is always a product of 
oxidation. 

Linseed oil, in a paint-pot, has little sur¬ 
face exposed in comparison with its entire 


24 


THE FIREMAN. 


mass, and the heat generated by oxidation 
is diffused through the whole body of the 
oil, is radiated into the air and conducted 
away by the pot. When the paint is spread 
upon wood, the oil oxidizes rapidly, and 
heat is correspondingly produced ; but being 
in contact with the conducting wood, is as 
rapidly carried away. If the wood were a 
non-conductor, and no heat w\as radiated, 
the oil would speedily take fire. When, 
therefore, this oil is mixed with sawdust, or 
spread upon cotton, wool, or paper, and the 
whole is kept away from a current of air, 
spontaneous combustion ensues. A painter 
rolls up his overalls, smeared and saturated 
with paint, some of w'hich has been mixed 
with linseed oil, and some with benzine, 
throws them in a corner or lays them care¬ 
fully away in some secluded place, and 
behold, the building is on fire. 


THE FIRE ALARM TELEGRAPH. 


QNE of the great, if not the greatest, 
achievements of modern science is the 
magnetic telegraph, and it marks an import¬ 
ant era in human progress and civilization. 
Its application to the service of fire depart¬ 
ments has revolutionized former methods of 
giving alarms and indicating the location of 
fires, and in every place where it has been 
introduced the testimony is universally in 
its favor. The idea of harnessing galvanic 
currents to fire-district circuits was first con¬ 
ceived and discussed by Dr. Wm. F. Chaii- 
ning, of Boston, who, in June, 1845, pub¬ 
lished a statement describing the .application 
of the telegraph to fire alarm purposes, the 
jirinciples then laid down by him being 
those wdiich underlie the system which has 
been adopted and in general successful use. 

( 25 ) 


26 


THE FIREMAN. 


The doctor's initial publication drew forth 
others on the same subject, until in 1848, 
the Mayor of Boston, recommended the 
adoption of the system of fire alarm tele¬ 
graphy in his annual address to the city 
government. At this time a telegraphic 
engineer of Boston gave attention to the 
subject, and, in conjunction with Dr. Chan- 
ning, completed the necessary apparatus to 
carry it into practical eflect. The mechan¬ 
ism of the human system first suggested the 
form and combination of the signal and 
alarm circuits. The analog}^ with the func¬ 
tions of the motor and sensitive nerves of 
the animal organism is complete, the central 
office performing the functions of the brain, 
and the wires those of the nervous system. 
In 1851, the doctor submitted a detailed 
plan for a fire alarm telegraph to the city 
government of Boston, which was adopted, 
and on the 28th of April, 1852, the system 


THE FIRE ALARM TELEGRAPH. 


27 


was put into practical operation. Since 
that time, though there have been made 
such changes and improvements as experi¬ 
ence dictated in the working of the system, 
it has been in operation, giving the best 
results. It consists of the signal apparatus 
and wires by which the intelligence of fire is 
communicated to the central office, and the 
alarm apparatus operating on the same wires 
by which the number of the box the alarm 
comes from is struck on the various bells, to 
which are fitted the striking apparatus 
operated upon by the electric current direct¬ 
ed by the operator in the central office. 

At first two wires were used — one to 
convey the alarm from the box operated 
upon to the central office, and the other 
used by the central office to strike upon the 
alarm bells; but it was found that one wire 
would answer as well for all these purposes. 
The boxes and apparatus in them first used 


28 


THE FIREMAN. 


to signal alarms were operated with a cranky 
upon a system which was found to be some¬ 
what defective. Improvements were made 
in these boxes at different times, until the 
one now in use was adopted as the best. 
This is automatic in its operation. The box 
has double doors, upon opening the first of 
which a slide, with a handle to fit the fore¬ 
finger, is observed in the inner door; by 
pulling down this slide, a lever on the inside, 
to which a weight is attached, is elevated, 
and acts on a sort of clock-work machinery 
by setting it in motion. The central part of 
the machine is a small wheel, upon which is 
a given number of cogs. In going around, 
these cogs act upon a small lever, w^hich in 
turn produces vibrations in the circuit of 
electricity, which are registered on an alarm 
bell in the central ofiice, the disturbance at 
the same time producing a single stroke on 
a small call-bell, which denotes the circuit 


THE FIRE ALARM TELEGRAPH. 


29 


from whence the alarm proceeds; at the 
same time if the printing apparatus is put 
in motion, as it usually is (to see if the • 
signal is true), the number of the station is 
printed out in dashes upon a slip of paper. 
Thus, if the signal box be 212, it is indica¬ 
ted by two strokes on the alarm bell, a 
pause; one stroke, another pause; and 
then two strokes. The number is printed 
off at the same time thus : - - - - - Im¬ 

mediately an alarm is given, the operator 
having assured himself of the identity of 
the box from which it proceeds, applies his 
hand to a set of levers, upon the switch¬ 
board, and switches on to an instrument 
called a three-dial 'repeater, the current 
of electricity. This repeater has three 
dials, with hands and figures like an ordin¬ 
ary clock. The minute hands are all placed 
at the figure 12. The other, or hour hands, 
are so placed as to give the different figures 



30 


THE FIREMAN. 


representing the aggregate number to be 
struck; thus, if it be 325, the hour hand of 
the first dial is pointed to figure 3, that of 
the second to figure 2, and of the third 
to 5. The circuits are then all connected 
with the machine, which is set in motion, 
when it does its work to perfection. The 
machine can, however, be arranged so as to 
have one or two dials do the required work, 
re^ulatin^ the number of the alarm. It can 
also be entirely dispensed with, and the 
work of sounding the alarm performed by 
the operator, so that in no event can a 
mishap occur in the work at the central 
office. All the boxes and their location are 
known by one number each, though these 
numbers ,are placed so as to indicate the 
locality. A circuit in the fire-alarm system 
is difierent from that in ordinary telegraph¬ 
ing. It is a metallic circuit, embracing an 
actual circle of electricity through metallic 


THE FIRE ALARM TELEGRAPH. 


31 


wires, and when put in motion for alarm 
purposes, has a double action, or return 
motion, striking the alarm both ways. 
Each circuit embraces a certain number of 
signal boxes, gongs in engine houses, and 
alarm bells, and can be acted upon indepen¬ 
dently or in conjunction with any number, 
or all of the others from the central office. 
The current in all the circuits is tested often 
from the central office, so that the slightest 
interruption is noted. Each box contains, 
in addition to the alarm apparatus, a small 
telegraphic instrument, to enable the assist¬ 
ant at work on the wires to communicate 
instantly with the central office, and ascer¬ 
tain when the circuit is fully restored. 

This in brief is the Fire Alarm Tele- 
gi’aph as it exists in many of the cities and 
larger villasres of this and other countries, 
and the same general principle applies to 
them all. But in some details and minor 


32 


THE FIREMAN. 


particulars, each locality has its modifica¬ 
tions. The New York alarm telegraph, 
under the supervision of Charles L. Chapin, 
(who has made telegraphy a life study,) is 
probably as near perfect in its details as is 
possible for human ingenuity to devise. 
The "lines” are so built that only a few 
stations are embraced in each, and they are 
so interwoven that contiguous stations are 
upon different lines, so that an injury to one 
line, which might put one station out of 
order, would have no effect upon the next 
nearest station—because that one would be 
placed in connection with a distinct and 
separate line! The wires are very strong, 
and of unusually high conductivity, so that 
the currents of electricity my flow through 
without impediment. They leave the tall 
poles in front of the headquarters, and are 
conducted carefully over its roof and down 
to heavy spars, whence they pass directly 


THE FIRE ALARM TELEGRAPH. 


33 


into the office. Here they are continued 
systematically to the batteries and instru¬ 
ments, but are so colored as to designate 
the particular office which each has to serve. 
The instruments and appliances at the 
central office consist of batteries, switch¬ 
board, register or receiver, indicator, trans¬ 
mitters, clock, repeater, and testing appara¬ 
tus. The apparatus outside of the central 
office consists of automatic street signal 
boxes, and mechanical gong strikers. All 
of these are of the most perfect and 
elaborate construction, and most of them 
especially invented, designed and made for 
the service of the complete system. The 
"batteries ” are compactly arranged in series 
of shelves, so as to be easily accessible. 
The shelves and stands are very thoroughly 
insulated, and the peculiar form of the 
battery keeps it perfectly clean 'and dry. 
The zinc element of this battery is so formed 


34 


THE FIREMAN. 


as to make a cover to the glass jar, and 
thus prevent evaporation and the introduc¬ 
tion of foreisrn matter in the interior. All 
batteries give off currents of electricity of 
various power, according to the amount of 
chemical substances destroyed — but they 
are almost universally constructed so that 
the plates are plunged into a reservoir of 
acids or chemicals, which act directly upon 
the plates, unless labor is expended upon 
them to keep them protected, or upon the 
other parts of the battery, to keep them 
clean. There is thus a large amount of 
destruction of material, independent of that 
due to the evolution of electric force. This 
destruction is called local action. If this 
abnormal action can be guarded against, two 
beneficial results ensue — economy of mater¬ 
ial is secured, and constancy of electric force 
and incidental labor is saved. The constancy 
of force is a very great consideration in a 


THE FIRE ALARM TELEGRAPH. 


35 


system where, for the first time, is introduc¬ 
ed apparatus for the exact and instant 
measurement of electric force on every line. 
For more than twelve months a steady 
current was supplied by means of these 
batteries — the only labor required being 
the occasional supply of crystals. The 
principle of the long endurance is found in 
the arrangement by which a steady but mi¬ 
nute supply of active chemical is supplied 
continually; the supply is regulated to the 
requirements of the line. Only one-tenth of 
expenditure of chemicals and labor are re¬ 
quired. As it has been considered the best 
policy to keep the entire system of lines in 
a state of continuous and simple intercom¬ 
munication, and as the expense of sustaining 
such batteries has been so much reduced, a 
very large number of cups are maintained. 
Besides these batteries others are provided 
for special purposes. The wires leading 


36 


THE FIREMAN. 


from these batteries are carried into the 

operating room symmetrically, and with a 

¥ 

view to their easy and instant identification. 

In all cases where many wires carry elec¬ 
trical currents into offices, it becomes neces¬ 
sary at times to change the direction of these 
currents, — to transfer them from one wire 
to another for various purposes, —just as an 
engine and a train of cars are diverted from 
one track to another. The same name is 
given to these devices, viz., "switch.” 
When many wires are introduced, each re¬ 
quiring its switches for its various purposes, 
the assemblage is called a "switch-board.” 
That of the IST. Y. F. A. is superbly mount¬ 
ed, is nine feet in length, and has upon it 
upwards of five hundred switches, each per¬ 
forming its own special duty, — but also ar¬ 
ranged and grouped together so that very 
many may be moved by one common impulse, 
as when it is required to convert certain se- 


THE riEE ALAEM TELEGEAPH. 


37 


ries on the entire number of lines from re¬ 
ceiving to transmitting lines. To prevent 
oxidation the rubbing surfaces are heavily 
coated with platina. This combination gives 
the operator in charge the power of instantly 
applying to each and every line the changes 
required. 

Usually it is desirable to send out the 
alarms, not only to all the alarm stations 
but also back again to the signal boxes. The 
change, therefore, of all the lines from • 
signal ” (those that give the first alarm to 
the Central Office) to " alarm ” (those that 
receive the alarm sent out from that office) 
can be effected by almost a single movement 
on the switch-board. In order to give sim¬ 
plicity and order to the arrangement of this 
instrument, each and every line has its series 
of switches for these various changes, ar¬ 
ranged in rows. Every switch has desig¬ 
nated upon it, in raised letters, the office it 


38 


THE riEEMAN. 


performs. Each and every line is alike, and 
each is numbered. They are also divided in 
sections of eight lines, so that it becomes 
quite easy to refer to any line without loss 
of time. Immediately in connection with 
the switch-board is a series of ” galvanome¬ 
ters,” which measure the force of current on 
the line by deflection of a needle. A few 
degrees indicate a weak current, and many 
deixrees a strong one. It is thus a valuable 
register of the state of the line — for the 
normal condition of the line being twenty 
degrees, ten degrees would indicate that the 
battery was becoming weak, and forty de¬ 
grees would indicate that the battery was 
becoming stronger, which could not easily 
occur, or else that the resistance at the line 
was lessened, or that the current had found 
some short road easier for it to travel than 
through all the length of the line with its 
numerous magnets. This measurement by 


THE FIRE ALARM TELEGRAPH. 


39 


degrees would be only a partial indication of 
the state of things. Hence, to every one of 
these galvanometers is added that which 
makes the test an exact one* The "resist¬ 
ance ” of a circuit or line is that obstacle it 
presents to the free passage of the electric 
current. Through a short circuit of large 
wire a large volume of electricity will pass 
and exercise powerful force upon magnetic 
instruments. Through a long circuit of fine 
wire the reverse is the case. 

The varying resistance of lines tested 
daily, and recorded in a book, is a complete 
history of the state of such lines. The in¬ 
strument which contains the coils of mea¬ 
sured resistance wires, by a combination of 
which any desired length of resistance is 
thrown in is called a "rheostat.” In the 
central office it is arranged so that the 
changes may be made almost instantly, and 
at the same time can be read ofl* in decimal 


40 


THE FIREMAN. 


numbers, indicating miles and tenths of 
miles. 

The " register ” is an apparatus by which 
are recorded all the alarms that are sent into 
the central office, and all the tests of the day 
and night. The currents from the lines do 
not immediately proceed to this machine, 
but throu 2 :h the usual inteiwention of the 
relay magnet, of which fifty-six, in very 
compact form, are arranged upon the regis¬ 
ter table. These relays act upon the regis- 
ter, and also, at the same time, upon an 
electric annunciator, by which the number 
of the line is indicated. When a signal is 

communicated to the central office from a 

% 

street box, the first operation the box per¬ 
forms is to disturb and break up the current 
that steadily flows through the lines at all 
times, and holds the relay magnet steadily 
charged. This break discharges the little 
magnet, its lever falls back, and, in so do- 


THE FIRE x\LARM TELEGRAPH. 


41 


iiig, instantly performs four operations. 
First, it throws down into view the number 
of the line called into action; it causes a 
bell to be rung; it starts the register wheel- 
work into revolution, and it prints a dot in 
ink upon a broad band of paper, which, is 
Tolled slowly through the machine. If this 
single action was all that took place, a single 
dot would be printed on the paper, which 
would run out about three inches and then 
the revolution would instantly cease; but it 
can be arranged that 'the paper shall run 
only two inches, more or less, before it 
stops. As long, however, as the line con¬ 
tinues to be active by sending off signals, 
just so long will the paper keep running — 
always stopping, however, two inches, more 
or less, as adjusted, after the last impulse from 
the line. Fifty-six pens, actuated by fifty-six 
magnets, are arranged beneath it, so that each 
and every one may be brought to bear upon 


42 


THE FIREMAN. 


the paper. Each one is connected with a sep¬ 
arate line. The pens are numbered to corre¬ 
spond with the lines, from one to fifty-six. 

The street "boxes” form, of course, a 
very important part of the apparatus of the 
system. They are fastened to the poles or 
engine houses, and consist of an outer 
casing or house of iron, with the seal of 
the fire department on each, and a label 
covered with glass indicating to the public 
where the key, which opens the box, may be 
found. Every policeman is furnished with 
a key, and every fireman, and the insurance 
patrol. When a fire occurs in the neighbor¬ 
hood of a box, any one who first obtains the 
key opens the outer box. Within it he per¬ 
ceives a second iron box, and fastened to it 
a handle to be pulled down. Printed direc¬ 
tions are also visible to ffuide in doins: this 
simple thing in the right way, and also show¬ 
ing how it may be known that pulling the 


* THE FIEE ALARM TELEGRAPH. ' 43 


handle has been effective. The moment the 
opener of the box hears a response he knows 
that his work is done. The officers in the de¬ 
partment, who have keys for the inner box, to 
which the handle is fastened, discover, upon 
opening them, a third box, round and tightly 
closed up from the air; on the outside of 

t 

this third box is to be seen simply a brass 
arm extending out to the right. This brass 
arm is fastened to the apparatus within the 
round box. The office of the pulling down 
handle on the second box is, to engage with 
and pull down this brass arm. 

This action upon the arm winds up the 
machine within, which begins running down 
as soon as the brass arm is left free to move 
by the disengagement of the pulling down 
handle. 

The other principal receiving instruments 
in the office consist of two extra and ordi¬ 
nary registers by which the communications 


44 ' 


THE FIREMAN. 


with the boxes which may be necessary for 
keeping the lines in perfect repair and good 
order are carried on, so as not to allow the 
main register to be cumbered by them. The 
apparatus for sending out the fire signals, 
received from and through the machines just 
described, consist of the repeater, the sup¬ 
plementary repeater, and the mechanical 
gong strikers. 

The " repeater ” is an instrument of great 
perfection of workmanship and design. It 
has a very important and extensive work to 
perform. When it is necessary to send out 
alarms it is, of course, of first importance to 
send to the various engine houses, and next 
to the street boxes. The last signals would 
be only for the information of the public. 
The circuit wheel, driven by regulated clock¬ 
work, is here again employed, but it is con¬ 
structed far difierently from that used in the 
street boxes. In this case each revolution of 


THE FIRE ALARM TELEGRAPH. 


45 


the circuit wheel is made to throw a siu 2 :le 

O 

signal. In other words, three revolutions 
will produce three taps of the bells. These 
signals are usually sent out with a very large 
battery power. It would be expensive to 
keep up so large a battery power upon every 
line as is usually thought best to employ for 
this tapping, so the circuit wheel is made 
very broad on the face, and teeth faced with 
thick platina are placed spirally upon it, and 
double springs, also heavily armed with pla¬ 
tina, are placed so that the teeth come suc¬ 
cessively up to the springs and throw the 
])attery powxr into them. Practically, the 
division is into eight sets of springs and 
eiirht sets of teeth on each w^heel or roller. 
As the circuit wheel or roller revolves, it 
communicates successively the battery power 
into the springs 1 234567 8, and as these 
springs unite with the lines, the power is 
successively thrown into the eight successive 


46 


THE FIREMAN. 


lines. The full power of one large batteiy 
is thus brought to bear successively on the 
dhferent lines in order, and a sufficient 
number of these circuit wheels, with their 
s])rings, are coupled together by gearing, so 
that all the lines through the city may be 
charged every revolution. How many of 
these lines shall be charged is entirely under 
control. The switch-board allows the oper¬ 
ator to throw any number on or off of the 
repeater. The circuit wheels are driven by 
clock work and weight, and as long as the 
machine is made to run the wheels would 
*on to tap regular successive strokes on the 
bells through the city. But the requirements 
of the fire service are such that numerical 
signals from 1 to 998 may be sent out. Any 
such signal may be sent by the machine,— 
provided that a plan for cutting off the cur¬ 
rents from the rollers or circuit wheels, at 
regular intervals, be provided. Thus, if it 


THE FIRE ALARM TELEGRAPH. 


47 


is desired to send the signal 2 3 we allow the 
circuit wheels, in full battery connection, to 
revolve twice, all the bells on all the lines 
will tap twice, biit as they revolve the third 
, time the battery connection is severed from 
them, and they revolve inuperate. As they 
make their fourth revolution, the-battery 
power is again turned on and three revolu¬ 
tions are made, giving three more taps. At 
the conclusion of the third tap, the battery 
power is again cut off, and it remains cut off 
until it is time to commence a second "round,” 
then the same process is repeated. The cut- 
tine: off and throwing on of the batterv is ac- 
complished by the use of regulating wheels,— 
each one cut to make the different desired sig¬ 
nals. These wheels have teeth on them, and 
they can be attached to or detached from the 
repeater Avith ease and rapidity. Each tooth 
passes a certain point in the same space of 
time occupied by one revolution of the circuit 


48 


THE FIREMAN. 


wheels. The agency of the teeth is to press 
certain spriugs together firmly. The springs 
being fixed, and the wheels revolving, if the 
first and second tooth of the wheel touch the 
springs and press them together, the battery 
power flies to the circuit wheel. If, how¬ 
ever, the next tooth is missing the springs 
do not come in contact, and the battery is 
cut off. What signal shall be sent is, there¬ 
fore, simply a question of how many teeth 
arc left upon the regulating wheels, and in 
what order they occur. While regulating 
wheel 3 2 7 is attached to the repeater the 
instrument cannot send any other signal,— 
it is impossible to make any mistake. But 
a difiiculty presents itself in carrying out this 
system of automatic telegraphy. The rela¬ 
tion of revolution of the two wheels, that is 
the regulating and the circuit wheel, must be 
fixed; in order to send 998 the revolutions 
must be as 1 to 30, as 30 teeth would be 


THE FIRE ALARM TELEGRAPH. 


49 


required to send all those 26 taps and the 
pauses between. It is quite evident then 
that the pause between the completed signal 
23 and its repetition is much greater than 
between 998 and its repetition. It is desira¬ 
ble to have the pauses between rounds equal, 
and to be able to adjust it to a certain num¬ 
ber of seconds. This is accomplished thus : 
Instantly after the last stroke of every signal 
a pin on the regulating wheel actuates a 
lever which immediately increases the speed 
of the train, which speed is kept up until the 
machine stops itself precisely at the point on 
the reofulatinof wheel where it commenced its 
action. At the same instant that the speed is 
increased, another train of wheels is started 
in action which runs for a certain regulated 
interval of time and then stop itself, but be¬ 
fore stopping itself it restores the parts of 
the other train to the condition they were 
before the speed was increased, so that when 


50 


THE FIRE3IAN. 


again it starts it is upon the normal slow 
speed. The further office of this second train 
is, just as it is about to complete its action, 
to start again the first train, so that the com¬ 
plete signal is repeated. Now, as the second 
train is not tripped until the last working 
tooth of the regulating wheel acts, the regu¬ 
lating or second train goes into action much 
sooner on a short signal than on a long one ; 
so that the first train cannot go into action 
again till the second train stops; so that the 
effect is, after a short signal the first train is 
tripped and started again almost immediately 
after it comes to rest; but aJter a long signal 
it has to wait until nearly the whole time oc¬ 
cupied by the movement of the second train, 
and thus the pause is completely equalized. 
These actions of the two trains upon each 
other continue, and the signals are repeated 
with great accuracy and uniformity, as long 
as the trains continue running; but is ar- 


THE FIRE ALARM TELEGRAPH. 


51 


ranged that after a certain interval the move¬ 
ment shall lock itself into rest, so that 
nothing can again call it into action 
except the will of the attendant who must 
make two movements anala^ous to the settino: 
of the hair trigger and then pulling it. 
The locking arrangement is contrived so 
that it can be set to any number of rounds 
or repetitions of signals required by the 
department. If set to three, it will com¬ 
plete three rounds and then lock itself, 
or if set to one, but one alone will be sent. 
The object of the repeater is to send to any 
number of stati6ns a correct numerical signal 
and repeat it at regularly-timed intervals. To 
receive alarms sent out are bells and large 
“ gongs,” which are struck with hammers 
moved by delicate clock-work machinery. 
The blows struck indicate the location of fire. 

And now it seems as if nothing more 
is needed as an alarm agent, nor in the 


52 


THE FIREMAN. 


method of its application to practical use; 
and each fire department which has the ^ 
magnetic telegraph is more efficient than it 
would he with any other alarm system. - 
It is proposed to supplement and enlarge 
the system so as to furnish correct time in ' 
public buildings and other places. With 
a magnetic clock, at the central station, 
]3ut into galvanic connection with a number 
of other magnetic clocks, at various points, 
a whole city may be timed to a second, 
and so continue, without variation, for 
months or years. Already, in some cities, 
a start in that direction has been made, 

and designated hours are struck on the 
alarm bells, thus giving the inhabitants an 
opportunity to note the exact time and to 
set their timepieces accordingly. It is prob- 
that the telegraph, modified and simplified, 
will always hold an important place among 
the agencies which serve and benefit mankind. 


fa 


FIRE-EXTINGUISHING APPARATUS. 


JT is fair to presume that observation and 

experience early taught the primitive 
races of mankind that fire and water are 

antagonistic elements in the domain of 
nature; and it would constitute an interest¬ 
ing speculation to elaborate the various 
probable methods used* by the first fire¬ 
men to convey and apply water to fire, 
whenever the latter escaped the limits 
assigned to it. At that time the chemical 
relation which the elements bear to each 
other was not understood, and the laws 
governing combustion, and the philosophy 
of hydraulics were to be learned. But 
it was doubtless apparent then that fire 
and water were not friends, and could not 
exist harmoniously together. It must have 
been apparent, even before the dawn of 



54 


THE FIREMAN. 


science, that a small quantity of water 

when applied to much fire would pass off 
in the form of steam into the surrounding 
atmosphere; but when the quantity of 
water was comparatively large the com¬ 
bustion was arrested and the fire “put 
out.” If the dwelling-tent or grain stack 
took fire the antedeluvian firemen would put 
on water, without knowing that it is com¬ 
posed of oxygen and hydrogen, or that fire 
is a process of union between oxygen and 
carbon. It is also probable that, at a very 
early date, a sort of bucket syste7n existed, 
which may have served its day and genera¬ 
tion pretty well. During the infancy of 
tlie race no lofty buildings were erected, 
and large quantities of water were not 
needed to extinguish the accidental fires 
incident to a pastrol people. What of the 
buckets? Their material, shape and capacity 
we can only conjecture. The first bucket 


FIRE-EXTINGUISHING APPARATUS. 55 


may have been a concentric piece of bark, an 
empty sea-shell, a disembowelled gourd, or 
a piece of rude pottery. But that there 
were cups of brass and of iron at an early 
date may be inferred from the fact that 
Joshua found such cups in the city of 
Jericho; and the prophet Jeremiah alludes 
to the manufacture of pottery as being no 
new thing in his time. In fact, frequent 

mention is made in Scripture of utensils 

% 

which would hold liquids, and which may have 
served the purpose of fire extinguishers. But 
one of the earliest members of the bucket 
family was a bag-bottle, and for centuries 
it was the best retainer of unstable fiuids 
in use. It is still in use among the nomadic 
tribes of Asia and Africa. These ancient 
ba 2 :-bottles were made from the skins of 
animals, which were properly dressed for the 
purpose. The openings in the skin were 
closed, except at the neck, through which 


56 


THE FIREMAN. 


the liquor was to be received and discharged, 
and which was fastened with a string like a 
bag. They were of ditferent sizes and 
shapes, as the skins of kids, goats or oxen 
might be used. Some made of ox-skins held 
sixty gallons each, and two were a load for 
a camel. In case of file it was only neces¬ 
sary to untie the neck of the bottle, and 
then, by pressure, collapse the body of the 

bottle, which would eject the contents 

♦ 

through hose, made from the intestine of 
an ox, with considerable force and efi’ect. 

« 

After individuals coalesced into communi¬ 
ties, and dwellers in tents became denizens 
of cities and villages, self-preservation against 
the ravages of fire made it necessary to de¬ 
vise something better than bottles to convey 
and apply water; and the genius of those 
times formed of wood a sort of tub, denomi¬ 
nated a “ piggin.” It had one of its staves a 
a few inches above the others, which made it 


FIRE-EXTINGUISHING APPARATUS. 


57 


a more convenient utensil to handle than was 
the flexible and yielding bottle. In the pro¬ 
gress of time the oscillating handle was 
added and the bucket or pail attained to its 
present state of perfection. One of the first 
Bag and Bucket Companies in this country 
was organized in Boston, October 22, 1788, 
under the name of Phoenix Fire Society. 
One of its rules was that each member should 

keep constantly in good order, hanging up 

• 

in some convenient place in his dwelling- 
house, under penalty of three shillings for 
deficiency, two leather buckets, two bags, 
and an iron bed key; the buckets to be 
painted, in every respect, conformably to the 
orders of the society; the bags to be one 
yard and a half in length, and three quarters 
of a yard in breadth, with strings to draw - 
them up. The buckets and bags to be 
marked with the first letters of the owner’s 
Christian name, and with his surname at 


58 


THE FIREMAN. 


length, under the penalty of six shillings for 
each bucket and each bag. Other rules, of 
course, required the members, in case of 
lire, to proceed to it forthwith, and use their 
best endeavors to put out the lire with the 
buckets, and save property in the bags. 

And yet the bucket system, in suppressing 
tires, did not keep pace with the increasing 
wants of the service. The common lifting- 
pump was a happy -conception. Next the 
force-pump. After this, a combination of 
two force-pumps arranged in a box, wherein 
they operated, conjointly, with considerable 
success. Again, to produce a steady out¬ 
flowing stream, an air chamber was added, 
and the present hand fire engine was the 
result. For more than two hundred years 
has this machine, in its various forms of 
development', been an almost marvellous 
power for good in every civilized country. 
Who will narrate its history and tell the 


FIRE-EXTINGUISHING APPARATUS. 59 


whole story of its conquests? The time for 
that, however, has not yet come, and, not¬ 
withstanding the recent advent of a wonder- 
fully effective rival, the hand engine will 
doubtless for many years continue to be a 
machine with which to fight the destructive 
element and win new victories. It has too 
much real merit to be run ofi* the track of 
popular favor very soon. And as it has at¬ 
tained to a high state of efiiciency, and has 
won a long series of successes, and is a mar¬ 
vel of inventive and mechanical skill, it is 
safe to presume its merits will not quickly be 
ignored. Capital to the amount of nearly a 
million of dollars is now invested in the 
manufacture of this class of machinery, and 
the demand for such engines is increasing. 
In this country there are ten or twelve estab¬ 
lishments where are turned out annually a 
hundred or more hand-fire engines, which 
are models of beauty, and in every respect 


60 


THE FIREMAN. 


adapted to the service for which they are 
designed. 

To ask who makes the best hand fire- 
engine would be as proper as to ask who 
carries the best watch, or who has the best 
wife. In either case the author does not 
assume to be arbitrator to settle the conflict 
of opinion. 

The advantages which hand-engines pos¬ 
sess are several and important. They are 
light, and are readily drawn to difficult 
points of access. Their cost is compara¬ 
tively small, thus making them available to 
small communities. They are simple and 
durable in their construction, and require 
but little care and labor to keep them in 

•A 

efiective condition. They are the pets of 
volunteers and serve to enlarge the area of 
sociability wherever they are kept. Again, 
they have a history, which is interesting to 
antiquarians. In the seventeenth century 


FIKE-EXTINGUISHING APPARATUS. 61 


they were rough, unpainted nondescript af¬ 
fairs, without the power of suction, but re¬ 
ceived their water from a line of leathern 
buckets. JSTow, they suck up a supply of 
water through twenty-eight feet of hose. 
TheUy they squirted water only about fifty 
feet. Now, they eject the fluid two hundred 
feet. Then, they often gave out or broke 
down. N'ow, they hold out and wear well. 
The transformations and improvements which 
were made in fire-ensrines between 1670 and 
and 1870 Avere so numerous, successive and 
progressive, that in them Ave may read the 
intellectual development and inventive genius 
of mankind Avith clearness and certainty. 

The hand fire-engine, and its modus ope- 
randi, is so Avell and generally knoAvn as 
hardly to need a description. It is a double 
force-pump, so arranged and operated as to 
cause a steady and copious stream or column 
of water to pass from the reservoir through 


62 


THE FIREMAN. 


the suction-hose, the water-ways of the ma¬ 
chine, and the leading-hose. This move¬ 
ment of the fluid is produced by the upward 
and downward motion of the piston-rods, 
which cause a vacum at the water-ways in 
the engine, and the atmosphere pressing on 
the surface of the reservoir water, with a 
force of flfteen pounds to the square inch, 
the water rushes in to supply the place made 
vacant by the expelled air. The suction 
power of an engine, therefore, is its capacity 
to produce a vacum, which, philosophers 
say, nature abhors. If the machinery were 
absolutely perfect, the drafting, or suction 
power of the engine, would be suflicient to 
bring water from a depth of thirty-three feet; 
for a column of water of that length exactly 
balances a column of atmosphere of equal 
diameter to its entire weight. But owing to 
the difficulty of making machinery work air¬ 
tight, and to avoid pinching and friction, 


FIRE-EXTINGUISHING APPARATUS. 


03 


engines are good ones which will ‘ ‘ suck ” at 
a distance of twenty-five feet. 

The forcing of the water from the engine 
through the leading hose, is more of a 
mechanical matter, and requires real mus¬ 
cular effort,— “beef,” the firemen some¬ 
times call it, —and much depends upon the 
construction and condition of the engine as 
to what results are attained in projecting the 
water. With a given amount of muscular 
power applied to the piston-rod liars, that 
eimine is considered the most effective which 

O 

will eject the greatest quantity of water the 
hiiihest and furtherest; and hence there has 
long been a rivalry among manufacturers to 
produce a superior engine ; and among fire¬ 
men there exists a disposition to consider the 
machine they run with as one that can’t be 
beat. And as each manufacturer usually 
claims to have some “ patent ” attachments, 
which others do not possess, so do the fire- 


64 


THE FIREMAN. 


men, who use his engines generally insist that 
no other maker can construct quite such good 
“ suckers and washers ” as are their favorites. 

Ill 1518 there were, at Augsburg, lire 
engines called “instruments for hres,” and 
“ water engines, useful at lires,” which, in 
appearance resembled monster saussage stuf- 
fers. A hundred years later there were 
machines which more resembled the tire 
engines of our times. An old writer refers 
to one he saw in 1617, and he describes one 
at Nuremburg, in 1656, which was placed on 
a sled ten feet long and four feet broad, 
drawn by two horses. It was a wooden 
water cistern, eight feet long, four feet high, 
and two feet wide, operated by twenty-eight 
men. It forced a stream of water an inch in 
diameter to the height of eighty feet. The 
cylinders lay horizontally in a box, but noth¬ 
ing is said of an air-chamber, and only a 
flexible pipe, without hose, was used. 


FIRE-EXTINGUISHING APPARATUS. 65 


In 1670 Yan der Heides, two Dutchmen, 
invented and manufactured leathern hose and 
suction pipe; and in 1690 they published a 
book, in which were excellent engravings of 
nineteen conflagrations, seven of which the 
old engines had failed to extinguish, and 
twelve which the new engines had put out. 
The title of the book is “ Beschrijoing der 
nieumlijhs uitgevonden Slang Brand-SpuitenJ** 
After reading the title American readers will 
not probably desire any further quotations 
from the book. 

The English were slow to adopt the inven¬ 
tions of the Dutch, and at the close of the 
sixteenth century the only fire engines used 
in England were “ hand squirts,” or syringes, 
holding less than a gallon. When put into 
use, the piston was taken out, and the nozzle 
of the cylinder dipped into water and allowed 
to fill. Two men held and directed the 
syringe, and one man worked the plunger. 


66 


THE FIREMEN. 


It was the modern toy squirt-gun intensified. 
These syringes were afterward fitted into a 
portable cistern, and furnished with levers 
for working the pistons. 

At the close of the seventeenth century an 
Englishman named Newman patented an en¬ 
gine consisting of a strong oak cistern, upon 
wheels, with pumps, air-chamber, leather 
hose, and suction pipe, with a strainer. 
This form of engine was in use many years, 
without being materially improved ; and the 
hand fire-engine of the present day is the 
direct descendant from the Newman engine, 
with, of course, various modifications and 
improvements. Another English invention 
was an engine constructed on the rotary 
principle, with twelve force-pumps arranged 
around a central air-chamber, into which 
they all discharged, and each could be oper¬ 
ated independently, one man only being 
required for each pump. This was quite an 


FIRE-EXTINGUISHING APPARATUS. 67 


effective apparatus, considering that but one 
man was required to start it, and only twelve 
men were needed to operate it to its full 
capacity. At the commencement of the 
eighteenth century there were but two fire 
engines in Boston, and less than a score 
probably in America; and to procure a 
“ water engine” from England or Germany, 
in good old Colony times, required more de¬ 
liberation, reports, resolutions, orders, finan¬ 
ciering and time than are now necessary to 
obtain a quarter of a million dollar cargo of 
merchandise from the Antipodes. 

As already noted, modern American en¬ 
gines consist essentially of two vertical or 
slightly inclined double-acting force pumps, 
one under each end of a lever-beam, to 
which are attached long bars for numbers of 
men to grasp and move up and down, which 
cause the pumps to force water through the 
suction-hose into a metalic chamber filled 


68 


THE FIREMAN 


with imprisoned air, and thence through the 
leading hose and discharge pipe to a fire or 
point desired. The size of the pump cylin¬ 
ders vary from five inches to ten inches in 
diameter; the stroke of the piston-rods vary 
from eight inches to eighteen inches; the 
length of the power bars are from sixteen 
feet to twenty-five feet each. The materi¬ 
als of wood, iron, steel, brass and plating 
are frequently elaborately carved and pol¬ 
ished, and tastly ornamented with mottoes, 
scroll-work, painted designs, etc., constitut¬ 
ing all together such marvels of beauty as to 
elicit universal admiration. 

Among the early makers of fire engines in 
this country were Agnew & Co., of Pennsyl¬ 
vania, and Thayer & Co., of Massachussetts, 
and several machines of those manufacturers 
are still in store at various parts of the coun¬ 
try. Their use, however, have very gene¬ 
rally been superceded by more modern, 


riKE-EXTINGUISHING APPARATUS. 69 


elaborate and effective apparatus. The Thayer 
and Aguew ‘ ‘ tubs ” were nearly alike in 
principle, but in appearance and methods of 
operating they differed considerably. The 
Agnew engine was a “ double-decker,” quite 
high and showy, and required squads of men 
to be elevated over the heads of other squads 
while working the piston-bars. The Thayer 
engine was rather a “ squatty ” looking affiiir, 
and the operators were all on a level. 

• 

And now, O daring Fireman, what more 
hast thou with which to renew and continue 
the contest against the destroying element, 
as it breaks out anew with increased fury ? 
What about that combination of Niagara and 
Vesuvius on wheels, which has filled the 
multitude with wonder? As a conquering 
giant comes the Steam Fire Engine, and 
its fiery pulsations are heard, and its saving 
deluge is witnessed iu many cities of the 


70 


THE riKEMAN. 


earth. No pen of poet or brush of painter 
can adequately describe and portray its 
achievements, or measure its power for good 
in this combustible world. No prophetic ken 
can discern the number and value of its suc¬ 
cesses in the future. That it may sometimes 
fail and get vanquished, as at the Chicago 
fire, is possible; but with due suppoii:, it 
will probably constitute the reliance of fire 
departments for a long time to come. 

A full and complete history and descrip¬ 
tion of the Steam Fire Engine would involve 
a history and description of the discovery 
and application of steam as a motive power, 
which is not the province of this work. But 
it may be interesting to note here that the 
steam engine proper was first invented and 
patented by Watt, in November, 1768; 
though the application of steam as a motive 
power, ante-dates this invention by many 
centuries — indeed, something was known 


FIRE-EXTINGUISHING APPARATUS. 71 


of its power and use before the Christian 
era, as quite successful experiments were 
made two hundred and thirty years before 
Christ, of which, however, we have but 
meager and imperfect accounts. No further 
material advance is known to have been made 
until the sixteenth and seventeenth century, 
when through the new art of printing, the 
works of Heron and Archimedes were dis¬ 
seminated and much read, and an age 
scarcely second to our own in the great 
number and variety of mechanical contriv¬ 
ances, was entered upon; vessels were pro¬ 
pelled, water raised, and mines drained by 
steam as early as 1543, and various machines 
were made. But their application to great 
practical uses was of a comparatively recent 
date. The first successful attempt to apply 
steam as a motive power to fire engines was 
made by Brathwaite, at London, in 1830. 
He made a five-horse power machine which 


72 


THE FIREMAN. 


weighed five thousand pounds. It was a 
success in so far as it demonstrated future 
possibilities, but it worked indifferently. In 
1832 he made a steam fire-engine for the 
king of Prussia, and this was an improve¬ 
ment on the previous effort; but the royal 
patron did not order a duplicate. 

On the 16th of December, 1835, occurred 
a fire in New York which raged during fif¬ 
teen hours, destroying seventeen blocks of 
buildings, comprising six hundred ware¬ 
houses and a loss of $17,000,000. This fire 
aroused insurance men and the business pub¬ 
lic to the necessity of devising and adopting 
some effective means to prevent the recur- 
rence of similar conflagrations. Premiums 
were offered for steam fire-engines, and, in 
1841, Mr. Hodges constructed an engine 
which was quite powerful and effective. 
But, besides lacking several essential requi¬ 
sites, it was too heavy for general use. 


FIRE-EXTINGUISHING APPARATUS. 73 


The first eflective engine adapted to .gene¬ 
ral service was made by A. B. Latta, early 
in 1853. This machine weighed about twelve 
tons and required four or six horses to haul 
it. The next year (1854) two more ma¬ 
chines were constructed by the same maker, 
and a steam fire department was organized 
in Cincinnatti, Ohio, where Mr. Latta re¬ 
sided. In 1855 he made a steamer for the 
City of Boston, where it done good service, 
April 12, 1856, in saving from destruction 
a large market building. 

At first, like nearly all new and useful 
inventions, the steam fire engine was met by 
opposition. The old firemen and others 
predicted disaster and failure. It was aver¬ 
red that such heavy and unweildly affairs 
would crush in the street sewers, sweep 
down lamp-posts, smash plate glass, pulver¬ 
ize paving,' set sedge-stones askew, and set 
fires with sparks from the smoke-stacks, 


74 


THE FIREMAN. 


and, finally, the boiler would burst and 
scatter death and destruction all around. 

All objections and predictions however 
availed not to prevent the advent of “ Niag¬ 
ara” and “Fire King.” A new era had 
dawned, and old fogyism had to clear the 
track for the new comer, the existence of 
which soon became a fixed fact. 

The engine of the Latta class is known as 
the “reciprocating” engine, having direct 
acting plungers. The boiler has a square 
box like a locomotive boiler, except that the 
furnace is open at the top where the chimney 
sets on. The furnace at the upper portion 
is occupied with a continuous coil of tubes 
opening into the steam chamber, the lower 
end passing through the fire-box and connect¬ 
ing with a force-pump outside, by means of 
which water is driven through the whole 
length of the coil. When the fire is started 
the fire-box is full of water, but the coils are 


FIRE-EXTINGUISHING APPARATUS. 75 


empty, and are kept so until they are hot 
enough, when water is injected, which im¬ 
mediately assumes the form of steam. Many 
minor improvements have been added to the 
“Latta’’ engine, but all the essentials are 
the same. The majority of steam fire-engines 
already constructed belong to the reciprocat¬ 
ing class, and it would seem as if they are 
effective and good enough. 

A first class reciprocating double-plunger 
engine, such as are now manufactured and in 
use, is a powerful machine, having the 
capacity to play four streams of water at the 
same time. This class is drawn by horses, 
and the weight is about seven thousand 
pounds. The boiler is thirty-six inches in 
diameter, and sixty-five inches in length; it 
contains three hundred copper tubes twenty- 
four inches long and one and one-fourth 
inches in diameter. The boiler is cased in 
wood, and covered with Kussia iron, with 


76 


THE FIREMAN. 


brass bands, and a brass dome and chimney 
casing. It has two double-acting plunger 
pumps, lined with brass, four and one .quarter 
inches in diameter, and twelve-inch stroke, 
with rubber valves and brass valve seats. 
The steam cylinders are eight inches in di¬ 
ameter, and twelve-inch stroke, working on 
the the same piston rods with the pumps. 
The air-chambers are of copper, with a silver- 
plated globe signal lantern on top, with the 
name and number on the same. The wheels 
are of wood, the forward ones fifty-four 
inches, and the back ones sixty inches high. 
It has a brake applying to the back wheels 
and controlled by the driver. The driver’s 
seat is fitted on the forward part of the en¬ 
gine, and has two side lamps. Two lengths 
of suction hose, made upon copper rings, 
each piece ten feet long and four and one 
half inches in diameter, are with the engine. 
The suction-pipe of the pumps*is fitted on 


FIRE-EXTINGUISHING APPARATUS. 77 


each side with a brass cap, and has vacum 
chambers of burnished copper on each i^ump. 

A second class single engine, with double¬ 
acting plunger pump, is constructed to throw 
two streams, and is fitted with a separate 
outlet and gate for each of the streams, and 
also fitted for a connection of suction hose on 
each side of the engine. It has one steam 
cylinder and one double-acting vertical plun¬ 
ger pump, and will discharge four hundred 
gallons of water per minute. The weight of 
this engine, without any of its supplies, is 
about forty-eight hundred pounds. It is 
mounted on high wheels, with easy springs 
and forelocking carriage, and is fitted with 
pole and reel for rope, so as to be drawn by 
men, or with a pole and the appliances neces¬ 
sary for the use of horses. A water-tank, to 
carry a supply of water for the boilers, makes 
a part of the engine. It is supplied with 
two pressure-guages, one to indicate the 


78 


THE FIREMAN. 


pressure of steam, and one to indicate the 
pressure of water on the hose. 

A first-class single engine, with one double¬ 
acting plunger pump, is built to throw four 
streams,and fitted with a separate outlet and 
gate for each of the streams. It has also a 
connection for suction-hose on each side of 
the engine. It has one steam cylinder ten 
and three-eighth inches in diameter, and one 
double-acting vertical plunger pump six 
inches in diameter and twelve-inch stroke. 
At a fair working speed it will discharge six 
hundred gallons per minute. The weight is 
about sixty-five hundred pounds. It is 
mounted on high wheels, easy springs and 
forelocking carriage, and is fitted with a self¬ 
acting lirake, and is constructed for very 
rapid transit. A tender to carry fuel, and a 
water-tank for a supply of the boiler, make a 
part of the machine. The tender will carry 
fuel sufficient for two hours’ consumption, 


FIRE-EXTINGUISHING APPARATUS. 79 


and the water-tank holds sixty gallons of 
water. There are two pressure-gauges, one 
to indicate the pressure of the steam, and 
the other the pressure of the water on the 
hose. 

There are also second and third class en¬ 
gines with single double-acting plunger 
pumps. These engines vary only in the 
dimensions of the parts. The second class 
machine usually has one steam cylinder eight 
and a half inches in diameter, and one 
double-acting vertical plunger pump of four 
and three quarter inches diameter, and 
twelve-inch stroke. At a fair working speed 
it will discharge four hnndred gallons of 
water per minute. It is built to throw two 
streams, and is fitted with a separate outlet 
and gate for each. It has also a connection 
for suction hose on each side of the engine. 
The weight is about forty-six hundred 
pounds. The third class is a lighter engine, 


80 


the: fireman. 


and is built more especially to be drawn by 
men. It has one steam cylinder seven and 
three-fourth inches in diameter, and one 
double-acting vertical plunger pump four and 
a half inches diameter, and nine-inch stroke. 
At a fair working speed it will discharge 
three hundred gallons of water per minute. 
It is built to throw two streams, and fitted 
with a separate outlet and gate for each. It 
has also a connection for suction hose on 
each side of the engine. The weight of this 
engine is four thousand pounds. 

The notary engine differs considerably 
from the reciprocating machine, and is an 
engine in much favor at many places, and 
several cities in the United States have ‘ ‘ ro¬ 
taries,” exclusively. In this engine the 
boiler is horizontal and rectam^ular, forminir 
the bed-rest for the machinery, which con¬ 
sists of a rotary engine and a rotary pump, 
both on the same shaft. The pump and the 


FIRE-EXTINGUISHING ARPARATUS. 81 


engine are of the elliptical rotary form, and 
consist of a pair of cog wheels, with longer 
and shorter teeth alternating, working into 
each other inside of an elliptical case. En¬ 
gines with the rotary movement are capable 
of a high rate of speed, and of dealing with 
very large quantities of water. No valves are 
used, and thus a simple and compact form of 
machinery is secured. Some of these engines 
perform wonders as hydraulic apparatus, dis¬ 
charging six hundred to one thousand gallons 
of water per minute. A serious drawback 
to the earlier rotaries consisted of a larger 
unbalanced pressure on the journals, and a 

sacrifice of cut-ofi* and expansion; these de- 

* 

fects however have been pretty much over¬ 
come and obviated in the machines of more 
recent manufiicture. 

A first size rotary is described by its 
builder thus : The boiler is patent circulat¬ 
ing tubular, made of the best quality of 


82 


THE FIREMAN. 


boiler iron, very strong, and covered with 
Russia iron, or other metal, and surmounted 
with a brass dome; raises steam from cold 
water in from five to six minutes. The en¬ 
gine and pump are patent direct acting 
rotary, with capacity to discharge seven 
hundred gallons of water per minute, and 
throws four streams. Forward wheels three 
feet ten inches high; hind wheels five feet 
in diameter, made of the best quality wrought 
iron, with bronze metal hubs. It has a tank 
for feed water to the boiler, which is kept 
supplied with water from the main pump. 
Has a donkey engine and pump for supply¬ 
ing the boiler, which can be used at any time 
independent of the main engine. Also, a 
supply pipe leading directly from the main 
pump into the boiler. Tender in rear of 
boiler, and also seats in front for driver and 
engineer; has suction hose attached to the 
pump, brass strainer and hydrant attached. 




FIRE-EXTINGUISHINQ APPARATUS. 83 


Full set of discharge pipes, nozzles, and all 
the tools necessary to use about the machine ; 
silver-plated signal and hand lanterns, with 
name and number engraved on the glass. 
Weight, about six thousand pounds when 
ready for service. Dimensions, nine feet 
three inches high; twelve feet six inches 
long without tongue, and twenty-three feet 
long with tongue ; six feet two inches wide. 

A second size discharges six hundred gal¬ 
lons per minute, and will force a one and a 
half inch stream two hundred feet, or a one 

and an eighth inch stream two hundred and 

• • 

forty feet, or two one-inch streams two hun¬ 
dred feet, with a steam pressure of not over 
sixty-five pounds. Weight of machine, light, 
forty-five hundred pounds. This size has a 
tank and tender with twenty-five feet of suc¬ 
tion, strainer, and hydrant attachment. The 
wheels are of iron, and of the same diame¬ 
ter as on first class engines. It is equally 


84 


THE riRE31AN. 


balanced on easy springs, and draws as easily 
as a hand machine. Steam is generated in 
from five to six minutes, from cold water. 
The first fire being made of wood, any good 
quality of bituminous coal may bo used. 
Dimensions, nine feet three inches high, 
twelve feet six inches long without tongue, 
twenty-three feet long with horse, and seven¬ 
teen feet long with hand tongue, six feet two 
inches wide. 

The third or smallest size discharges five 
hundred gallons per minute, and will force a 
one and quarter inch stream about two hun¬ 
dred and twenty feet, or a one and an eighth 
inch stream two hundred and thirty feet, or 
two three-fourth inch streams one hundred 
and eighty feet, with a steam pressure of 
from sixty to sixty-five pounds. Weight of 
machine, light, thirty-six hundred pounds. 
This size has a tank and fuel pan, suction 
• hose, discharge pipes, etc., and wheels same 


FIRE-EXTINGUISHING APPARATUS. 85 


diameter as first size machine. Can be easily 
drawn by twenty men; does good fire duty 
through any line of hose under three thousand 
feet; has no valves or connecting rods. Di¬ 
mensions, nine feet three inches high, 
thirteen feet six inches long without, and 
seventeen feet long with tongue; six feet 
two inches wide. 

The last and least fire extenguishing ap¬ 
paratus is “ The Annihilator,” which was 
first brouglit to public notice by a great 
American showman about the year 1850. It 
is made of three sheet iron cylindrical vases, 
set one within the other; between the two 
outer ones is placed a quantity of water 
which may be generated into steam and dis¬ 
charged into the inner cylinder, which con¬ 
tains “ a charge ” of gas-generating mixture, 
consisting of chlorate of potash and sugar, 
placed in close proximity to another charge 


86 


THE FIREMAN. 


of sulphuric acid, enclosed in a small bottle, 
which, on being broken, both charges chemi¬ 
cally unite and inflame, and the gases pass 
into the water, forming steam and a dense 
vapor. This vapor, under favorable circum¬ 
stances, with no fresh currents of air, dead¬ 
ens and extinguishes fire. These machines 
are considered by many to be useful and 
handy to have around in cases of incipent 
fires. Persistent advertising has made them 
quite popular, and they have doubtless con¬ 
siderable merit. It is claimed for Carbonic 
Acid Gas that experiments have shown that 
fire cannot burn in an atmosphere containing 
one-fifth part of its volume, and that its 
presence does not injure the finest fabrics, 
or discolor the most highly polished plate; 
consequently it does no damage to goods or 
furniture, which water destroys. 


MUSTERS AND TESTS. 


•-»o« 

go long as human habitations are combus¬ 
tible there will be earnest rivalry among 
the men and the methods that are employed 
to protect them from destruction by fire, 
and so long as men "run with the machine” 
to extinguish conflagrations, there will be 
firemen’s musters. If there were any prob¬ 
ability that steam would wholly supersede 
the use of hand-engines, there would still be 
room for occasional meetino^s of the firemen 
for friendly competition. The fireman’s 
pride in his machine is not decreased by 
the fact that steam supersedes muscular 
labor, nor is the necessity for his j^ersonal 
prowess lessened in the combat with the 
destroying element. The excitements would 
be the same, only the numbers would be 
less. But there is hardly a prospect of the 

( 87 ) 



88 


THE FIREMEN. 


disuse of hand-engines just yet, and there¬ 
fore the old-fashioned muster is still, and 
must he in the future, a cherished thing, 
though of less frequent occurrence than for¬ 
merly. 

During the past years musters have been 
held in various parts of the country, whereat 
hosts of firemen have gathered, and where 
scores of hand and steam-engines have had 
their power and capacities tested; not that 
these tests show very accurately the whole 
and real merits of the several engines, but 
the general results indicate the progress that 
has been made in the construction of this 
class of machinery. The engine that is the 
victor over its competitors one day, may, 
under the disadvantage of a gust of wind or 
other cause, be beaten the next day. The 
total averages of many engines from year to 
year, however, do indicate the progressing 
efficiency of the various departments. 


MUSTERS AND TESTS. 


89 


At musters and trials it is necessary that 

%J 

"fair-play” should be observed, and the 
rules and regulations adopted and observed 
are the same, subject to such slight modifi¬ 
cations as varying circumstances may re¬ 
quire. It is customary to require each en¬ 
gine to draft its own water and play through 
200 feet of leading hose, and play through 
such pipe and nozzle as they may select. 
Five minutes are allowed each company after 
setting their engine, and their best stream 
within that time is measured by the judges. 
Two minutes are allowed each company to 
replace each length of bursted hose. Each 
company selects a judge to assist-during its 
trial only. Officers of companies see that 
their engines are ready before their numbers 
are called by the judges. New 2 1-2 inch 
hose is furnished for the trial, free to all. 

Prizes are usually awarded in amounts of 
$25.00 to $200.00 to the one or more en- 


90 


THE FIREMEN. 


gines which perform the best playing in hor¬ 
izontal distance. For steamers, the maximum 
pressure of steam allowed is one hundred 
pounds. 

The principal interest and excitement cen¬ 
tres on the exertions of the hand-engine 
companies. The course played over is 
roped in, and a board platform for marking 
the length of the streams laid in the street 
beyond the first hundred feet. Each com¬ 
pany occupy about ten minutes with its three 
trials ; and occasional delays by the bursting 
of the hose protract the time. Three or four 
companies are all the while waiting with 
their machines for their moment of trial, 
and they jingle the engine-bells as a notice, 
” All Ready! ” A big card designates the 
number of each company, as its turn arrives. 
One after another they push up and unlim¬ 
ber beside the huge cistern, which a steam 
fire-engine keeps full all the time. The 


MUSTERS AND TESTS. 


91 


brakes and the hose are attached in two 
minutes. Three or four men mount the 
machine, each gets one foot upon the crank, 
the men grasp the brakes, and the foreman 
commands a slow movement. The leadino: 
hose fills, and a stream broken with explo¬ 
sions of the air from the cylinders spurts 
towards the marking place. Then the band 
plays, and the excitement commences. The 
men work faster, and the foreman begins to 
shout. The stream turns to spray farther 
and farther up the street, and the vein in the 
mud swells and stretches and straightens 
with the force of the flood it compresses. 
”Now, why don’t you put ’er down? Down 
with her ! Now, now, ya-a-a-ah ! ” and the 
thing is done, the band stops ^flaying, the 
foreman jumps down into the mud, and the 
engine is limbered up and moves ofl*. This 
operation is performed as many times as 
there are engines to test. Steamer trials 


92 


THE FIREMEN. 


are prosecuted under similar circumstances, 
but with a less number of men, and with 
less interest to the spectators. 

Musters have their uses in that they per¬ 
mit firemen of divers localities to become 
acquainted, and to compare notes as to the 
respective merits of their fire-extinguishing 
apparatus. But it is very seldom that the 
result of tests wholly satisfies a majority of 
the contestants, and the "bully machines” 
are not always rated as "A 1,” except by the 
comparatively few who have put the things 
through. The victors are elated and satis¬ 
fied, but the defeated parties are not con¬ 
vinced of the inferiority of their vanquished 
"tubs.” No doubt the most effective en¬ 
gines are those which perform the best and 
do the most real work during their use at 
fires, and that is what no fancy tests fully 
determine. 


LURID LEAVES. 


- »<>♦ - 

GOOD deal of fine writing and speak¬ 
ing, and liot a little of the silly and 
”hifalutin” sort, have been indulged in by 
newspaper writers and orators, to describe 
the incidents that abound at conflagrations, 
and the daring deeds performed by heroic 
firemen have served as high-flown themes. 
So long as men build of material that is 
combustible, there will be occasions for the 
exercise of "gifts o’ gab,” and the reporters 
may continue to take notes. 

A full record of all fires, however, has 
not been made, and probably never will be ; 
for to note and keep such a record would 
require the system and labor of a regularly 
orminized Bureau, with branches all over 
the globe. So frequent and numerous are 

(93) 




94 


THE FIREMEN. 


the ” rampages ” of the fire-king, that de¬ 
structive flames are raging, somewhere with¬ 
in the domains of man, during every moment 
of the year ! Even within the limits of the 
United States, the number of destructive 
fires which occur aggregate scores during 
each twenty-four hours of the entire year. 
Once a ” fire-sharp ” gentleman, with an in¬ 
quiring and recording state of mind, at¬ 
tempted to collect and collate a list of the 
fires which had occurred during the previous 
twenty-five years, and no fire was included 
where the loss was less than $1,000. The 
result was a closely-printed volume of three 
hundred pages, but the compiler admitted 
the list to be incomplete. 

It is not within the scope of this article 
to record or refer to the countless number 
of ash-makers whose achievements have dot¬ 
ted, lighted up, and darkened the past. As 
representatives of " Great American Fires ” 


LURID LEAVES. 


95 


— giants of the ash-makers — the subjoined 
were models: 

A very destructive conflagration visited 
New York city on the evening of Dec. 16, 
1835. It broke out in Merchant Street, in 
the triangular block formed by Wall, Wil¬ 
liam, and Pearl Streets. The wind was 
blowing heavily from the north-west, and 
the weather was so intensely cold as to ren¬ 
der the efiicient working of the engines im¬ 
possible. The consequence w’as that the 
fire held the mastery throughout the night, 
spreading with great and destructive rapid¬ 
ity. The fact that the eflbrts of the firemen 
were powerless, on account of the almost 
instantaneous freezing of the water in the 
engines, and the benumbing eflfects of the 
cold, increased the consternation which pre¬ 
vailed among thousands of the agitated mul¬ 
titude who were witnesses of this calamity,— 


9G 


THE FIREMEN. 


man}^ of them doomed to stand and see the 
destruction of their own fortunes without 
beiufi: able to raise a fin 2 :er for their rescue. 
To arrest the progress of the flames was at 
once seen to be impossible, except by blow¬ 
ing up whole blocks of buildings in advance 
of the fire. But the difficulty was to obtain 
powder, as none of consequence was allowed 
in the city. A sufficient supply could not 
be had short of the Navy Yard; where, 
also, the mayor had to send for a strong 
military force to protect property from the 
swarms of thieves who are always ready 
to ply their avocation upon such occasions. 
In all seventeen blocks of buildings, of 
the largest and most costly description, were 
totally destroyed. The destruction of goods 
of every description was immense. Before 
the gunpowder was used in blowing up 
buildings, there were many loud reports 
from explosions of powder and casks of 


LURID LEAVES. 


97 


spirits. During the entire night the scene 
was one of awful terror and indescribable 
grandeur. The drought of the season had 
contributed to the combustibility of the ma- 

V 

terial, and the rapidity with which house 
after house, range after range of buildings, 
was wrapped in flames, was r otonishing. 
The wind being high, large flakes of fire 
were borne whirling aloft through the dark 
vault of heaven with fearful splendor. From 
the direction of the wind, the city of Brook¬ 
lyn was in great danger, and the brands of 
fire were carried as far as Flatbush, on Long 
Island. The buildings in Exchange Place 
having taken fire, the flames soon communi¬ 
cated to the Merchants’ Exchange, which 
had been supposed to be secure from the 
fire, and where a large amount of goods 
had been deposited for safety. Before they 
could be removed, or the tenants of the 
building remove their private property, the 


7 


98 


THE FIREMEN. 


fire had reached the roof, which, falling in, 
carried with it the east side of the building. 
The splendid dome of the Exchange, after 
sendin ^p volumes of flames for half an hour 
to an i ; nense height, fell in with a tremen¬ 
dous c r(' *, burying the elegant statue of Plam- 
ilton r tc ruins. At this time the fire on 
Pearl J .oet had reached Hrnover Square, 
which large space of ground was covered 
with goods, and so rapidly did the fire 
spread on both sides of the square, that in 
a short time the goods were all consumed. 
Marines with fixed bayonets patrolled among 
these heaps of goods to protect them from 
thieves. All eyes were fixed upon the vast 
volumes of dense black smoke rolling aAvay 
before the wind; flames darting and roaring 
from the roofs and windows of whole blocks, 
walls tumbling to the ground, and the fire¬ 
men worn out by their exertions, and almost 
discouraged from further efibrts, and vainly 





LURID LEAVES. 


99 


striving against the lire, which seemed to 
mock all human skill and enterprise. For 
fifteen hours New York was in flames, 
and a large section, and that th ' Idest and 
most wealthy, w^as laid in ashes^ ^’Six hun¬ 
dred buildings were entirely de b ^yed, and 
great numbers badly damage'^il^*^ Foss was 
estimated ab$17,000,000. 

\ 

Another very disastrous fire occurred 
July 19, 1845. It originated in a packing- 
box maker’s shop on New Street, the flames 
from which communicated to an adjoining 
warehouse containing saltpetre, which ex¬ 
ploded, with three terrific shocks, at quarter 
before four o’clock, carrying away the build- 
in e: and two other warehouses in the vicin- 
ity, spreading death in all directions among 
the firemen on the ground. Some of the 
fire-engines near the building were shivered 
to atoms. The three explosions were ac- 


100 


THE FIREMEN. 


companiecl by shocks resembling earth¬ 
quakes, and so powerful as to shatter win¬ 
dows within a circuit of a mile. The doors 
of the American Exchange Bank, in Wall 
Street, were burst open with a loud crash. 
The City Bank doors were also burst 
through, as were the doors of warehouses 
and buildings in the vicinity. Massive iron 
doors and window-shutters were bent and 
twisted in every direction. The explosion 
not only carried away three buildings, and 
shattered doors and windows, but it hurled 
flames and burning timbers into the adjoin-' 
ing warehouses, which caused the fire to 
rage with intense fury. Thirty or forty val¬ 
uable stores, with their contents, were de¬ 
stroyed. On Broadway, the splendid hotel 
known as the Waverley House, with twelve 
warehouses; Broad Street, — both sides, 
from Wall Street to Exchange Place, and 
from thence to Beaver Street. Exchanare 

O 


LURID LEAVES. 


101 


Place,—from Broadway to Broad Street, 
and from Broad to William Street; silk 
warehouses and dry goods stores were de¬ 
stroyed, forty buildings in all. In Beaver 
Street a few buildings w^ere on fire, and the 
firemen worked with the greatest energy to 
save them. That they succeeded was al¬ 
most a miracle, for they were already fa¬ 
tigued, and the morning was hot and sultry. 
The loss of life was great; not less than 
thirty of the firemen were killed. Loss — 
$5,000,000. 

San Francisco, California, was severely 
tried by fire May 3, 1851. It originated in 
a paint-shop on Portsmouth Square, and in 
five minutes the whole building was in 
flames, wdiich spread with incredible rapidity 
to the American House, which, with a furni¬ 
ture store, was on fire before the engines 
arrived on the spot. The buildings being 


102 


THE FIREMEN. 


constructed of wood, tlie iire had full sway; 
the firemen were compelled to fly before the 
flames in all directions except the north. 
The three blocks between Dupont and Kear¬ 
ney Streets were reduced to ashes. Besides 
these, there were thirteen blocks of build¬ 
ings burned. It was estimated that not less 

f 

than two thousand five hundred buildings 
were destroyed. More than three-fourths 
of the city were nothing but smouldering 
ruins. Iron and zinc curled up like scorched 
leaves, and sent forth their brilliant flames 
of green, blue and yellow tints, mingling 
with the great red tongues of fire which 
flashed upwards from a thousand burning 
buildings. The hills were lighted up as if 
the sun was above the eastern mountain-tops, 
and trees, shrubs, herbage, and houses were 
as distinguishable in the bright light as at 
noon-day. Darkness hung over a large 
portion of the shipping where the broad and 


LURID LEAVES. 


103 


heavy smoke lay. People became paralyzed. 
Every few minutes the earth and air trem¬ 
bled, as great buildings were torn into frag¬ 
ments by explosions of gunpowder; and the 
air was filled with shattered timber, bricks 
and mortar. The multitude hung, as it 
were, upon the borders of this vast sea of 
flames. Few comparatively knew, or could 
know, what were the dangers and exertions 
of those who were within the range of the 
stifling and scorching flames. In less than 
nine hours from the beginning, more than 
twenty squares existed only in memory, and 
the ascending volumes of smoke and flames 
which covered the site of the city. But the 
saddest sight of all was the destruction of 
brave but bewildered men, who, finding 
themselves suddenly surrounded by fire, 

» 

rushed staggering and uncertain from flame 
to flame, in hopeless efforts to escape, until, 
strangled and scorched, they writhed and 


104 


THE FIIlEMEN. 


fell in view of hundreds who were com¬ 
pletely powerless to save them. Loss — 
$17,000,000. 

Nov. 10, 1852, Sackamento, California, 
became subject to King Fire. The fire 
reached from levee First Street to Tenth 
Street, presenting one sea of flame, crumb¬ 
ling everything to ashes. An attempt was 
made to arrest the progress of the flames by 
blowing up one or two buildings.with pow¬ 
der, but it proved ineflectual. The wind 
had been blowing towards the levee; it in¬ 
creased to a gale, and changed to the north, 
thus blowing the fire broadside on to that 
part of the city which was supposed to be 
safe from the fire, and in five minutes it had 
spread from M to J Streets. There were 
not less than two thousand buildings de¬ 
stroyed. The whole city was one mass of- 


LURID LEAVES. 


105 


ruins, leii lives were lost in this conflasfra- 

O 

tion, . Loss estimated at $12,000,000. 

The city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 
was visited by a fire July 9, 1850, of appal¬ 
ling magnitude. It started in a large ware¬ 
house. Two explosions occurred in the 
building where the fire ori 2 :inated, rendino; 
the walls asunder, and throwing the burning 
timbers in every direction, by which means 
the fire was communicated to a laro:e num- 
ber of houses. The firemen hastened to the 
scene of destruction, and were soon engaged 
in combating the flames. The first explo¬ 
sion caused but a little alarm. The firemen 

worked on ; the fire began to spread, and in 

« 

a short time a startling explosion took place, 
quickly followed by another, spreading havoc 
in all directions. Beams of wood, scant¬ 
ling, bricks, metal roofing, and blazing shin¬ 
gles, were thrown into the air, spreading to 


106 


THE FIREMEN. 


a greater extent the flames of the already 
disastrous conflagration. The scene, pre¬ 
sented was appalling in the extreme. On 
the eastern front of the stores, where the 
last explosion occurred, the rush for life was 
terrific. Men and boys, firemen and by- 
, standers, rushed away from the conflagra¬ 
tion, and as they endeavored to escape from 
the danger, hundreds rolled over, and tram¬ 
pled upon each other, running and jumping 
over the large piles of cotton and other 
goods on the wharves. Many were knocked 
down as if dead, and hundreds were rushing 
over their fallen bodies, causing legs and 
arms to be dreadfully broken, and inflicting 
wounds of a serious nature. In the frig-ht 
some were thrown into the Delaware Eiver; 
while a large number voluntarily jumped in, 
to shield themselves from the bricks and 
timbers thrown from the burning stores. 
Frightful indeed was the loss of life, and 


LUKII) LEAVES. 


107 


still greater dangers threatened, yet the 
noble exertions of the firemen continued un¬ 
abated, excepting when a pause in their 
perilous labor was required for their safety. 
At night the scene became still more fearful. 
The heavens presented a lurid glare, and the 
light of the conflagration was distinctly seen 
for thirty miles around. Large volumes of 
smoke were borne along by the wind, and 
the alarm-bells were ringing every quarter 
of an hour, and word was passed from lip 
to lip that the furious element was sweeping 
evervthing before it. Falling walls and 
blazing buildings were to be seen on all 
sides. Alleys and streets were crossed by 
the fire, wdiich for a time seemed to bid de¬ 
fiance to all human efibrts. From Camden, 
on the opposite shore, the scene was truly 
grand; while the shipping in the docks, 
which escaped the flames, presented a pic¬ 
turesque appearance. From the State-house 





108 


THE FIREMEN. 


steeple the lurid picture was terribly sub¬ 
lime. The sight of hundreds of families, for 
squares around the tire, fleeing from their 
houses at the midnight hour, and removing 
their furniture upon every species of vehi¬ 
cles, amid the din of a thousand voices, and 
the roaring and crackling of the forked 
flames, was a scene that can hardly be de¬ 
scribed. Not for a moment did the noble 
and self-sacrificing firemen fiilter in their 
duty. Difficulty and dangers appeared but 
to stimulate their courage, and many of them 
encountered risks and perils far greater than 
those connected with the battle-field. The 
number of persons killed and wounded was 
about one hundred and fifty-six. Loss — 
$ 1 , 000 , 000 . 

The city of Portland, Maine, was devas¬ 
tated by fiery visitation July 4 and 5, 1866, 
to the extent of more than one-third of its 


LURID LEAVES. 


109 


territory. A sea of flame wheeled and tossed 

I 

ill wild commotion,- till twelve thousand 
people were made houseless and homeless. 
Upwards of fifteen hundred buildings were 
burned, including eight churches, four school- 
houses, and eight hotels; all the banks, in¬ 
surance offices, and law offices; all the 
dry goods and shoe and jewelry houses; 
more than one hundred manufacturing estab¬ 
lishments, amomr which was Brown’s sugar- 
house, eight stories high, and covering more 
than an acre of ground; the magnificent 
City Hall, and Wood’s marble hotel, unfin¬ 
ished, which could not be replaced for a quar¬ 
ter of a million ; the hall and cabinets of the 
Portland Society of Natural History, the 
value of which could not w^ell be reckoned in 
dollars, and other noble piles. Fifteen hun¬ 
dred buildings ! Allowing fifty feet frontage 
for each, thev would have formed a line 
upwards of fourteen miles long I But, by 


110 


THE FIKEMEN. 


actual survey, the frontage burnt over was 
more than seventeen- miles in length. It 
was emphatically a resistless hurricane of 
destruction that went shrieking through the 
streets and over the house-tops. Almost 
from the beginning the mayor and city au¬ 
thorities, the chief engineer and firemen, 
saw that futile would be any endeavor to 
stay the devouring element in its course; 
and the conviction soon came that the only 
alternative was to fight it on the flanks — 
drive it across the city in as narrow a vein 
as possible — and the sooner the better! 
And yet, rapid as was the work of demoli¬ 
tion, it took seventeen hours (from 4 oklock, 
p. M., on the 4th of July, till 9 o’clock next 
morning) before the flames had reached 
the bound where there was nothing more to 
burn. Many were the feats of daring per¬ 
formed on that wild night, almost uncon¬ 
sciously to the performers. Men are braver. 


LURID LEAVES. 


Ill 


cooler than they know. To rush across the 
steep roofs of lofty buildings, to penetrate 
forsaken streets, through walls of fire, to 
rooms where it was surmised living beinsrs 
were helplessly shut up, to lug kegs of pow¬ 
der to and fro, with the fiery cinders falling 
around thick as the flakes of a vernal snow¬ 
storm, to apply the match to exploding 
mines in dark cellars and intricate passage¬ 
ways, or dodge under cover when the shat¬ 
tered fragments of blowm-up buildings were 
raining around,—these were but common 
feats, but common experiences. Indeed, as 
has often been observed, one of the most 
wonderful features of the great fire was, that 
no one was killed, no one injured; but in 
the very recklessness of the people was, to a 
large degree, their safety. Some eleven 
hundred business places were consumed, 
with nearly all their contents, involving a 
loss in goods, machinery, and fixtures, which 


112 


THE FIUEMEX. 


careful figuring from data presented was 
shown to exceed $7,000,000. 

There was emphatically a ” Great Fire ” in 
the city of Chicago, Illinois, Oct. 9 and 10, 
1871. It was claimed to have been one 
without a parallel in the history of the world, 
and it would be impossible to make a full 
statement or record of the circumstances at¬ 
tending it. From investigations made, it was 
ascertained that the fire originated in a small 
frame structure located in the rear of No. 137 
De Koven Street, used as a cow stable. The 
fire commenced at about 9 1-2 o’clock, p.m. 
A strong south-westerly wind was blowing 
at the time; no rain had fallen for several 
weeks previous; consequently all combusti¬ 
ble matter was prepared for ignition. The 
origin of the fire could not be definitely ar¬ 
rived at, but, from all the circumstances 
commcted with the case, it was currently 


LURID LEAVES. 


113 


believed to have been set through careless¬ 
ness. This portion of the city was occupied 
by the poorer classes, principally Bohemian 
emigrant families, and being in the vicinity 
of several planing-mills, shingle-mills, and 
factories, had collected a large quantity of 
shavings from these places, and stored them 
in the basements and yards of their premises 
for winter fuel. All the apparatus respond¬ 
ing to the first alarm, were soon upon the 
ground, and were placed in the most advan¬ 
tageous positions in very quick order; the 
second and third alarms were given in suc¬ 
cession, almost instantaneously, bringing the 
entire department to the rescue, but of little 
avail. Considering the difficulties the de¬ 
partment had to encounter on that dreadful 
night, with few exceptions, the officers and 
men worked wdth a will and energy seldom 
seen. They had just passed through a severe 
fire twenty-four hours previous, and part of 


8 


114 


THE FIKEMEN. 


the companies had left the scene of the Sat¬ 
urday night fire but a few hours, when they 
were again called, tired and worn out from 
hours of hard labor, to this one, still more 
fearful than the one they had just dealt with. 
While the department were working on the 
oriirinal fire, which was surrounded and un- 
der control, a fearful gale which wns blowing 
•at that time carried not only sparks, but 
brands and pieces of boards on fire, the dis¬ 
tance of two to four blocks. To the surprise 
of the firemen, they were informed that a 
church over two blocks to the north was on 
fire. A new base of operations was then 
formed, to protect the property around the 
burning church. While thus engaged, they 
were again informed that a fire had broken 
out in a match factory, a lumber yard, and 
a shingle mill. People living in the vicinity 
had carried out bedding, furniture, etc., into 
the streets and alleys for safety, which w^ere 


LURID LEAVES. 


115 


soon all ablaze, the strong wind carrying the 
burning material to the east side of Canal 
Street, communicating the fire to the wood¬ 
en structures on that side of the street. 
These buildings being elevated to the height 
of five to seven feet above the ground, form¬ 
ed a complete tunnel, and the draft carried 
the flames for a whole square, without meet¬ 
ing even the resistance of a common board 
partition. In the meantime the heat drove 
the firemen, and they were compelled to 
remove some of their apparatus, which occu¬ 
pied quite a length of time, also losing con¬ 
siderable hose. During this time the fire 
made fearful progress; so rapidly did it ad¬ 
vance, that it was impossible to concentrate 
the apparatus at any one point of attack. 
Some of them were badly burned, and one 
of the engines was entirely consumed. Large 
brands of fire were carried through the air 
for miles, alighting on the roofs of buildings 


116 


THE riEi:MEN. 


ill the business portion of the city. Three 
clifierent times was the cupola of the Court 
House, at least one mile distant, on fire, and 
it required the efi()rts of the w^atchman and 
others to extinguish it, and keep it from 
destruction at that time. In the short space 
. of one hour and fifteen minutes, the fire had 
reduced thirty-two blocks of buildings to 
ashes, cot^ering an area of eighty acres, and 
incurring a loss of about $1,475,000. At this 
time information was received that the fire had 
crossed the river to the South Division, and 
was burning in the vicinity of the gas-works. 
A portion of the department was ordered to 
the new field of action, and on its arrival 
there were found not only several buildings 
on fire, but the largest portion of the two 
squares. So rapidly did the fire spread, 
that the wooden buildings on Quincy Street, 
the Armory Building, the .square known as 
" Conley’s Patch ” (all composed of wmoden 


LmiD LEAVES. 


117 


shells), the gas-works, and the roofing ma¬ 
terial yard were one sheet of flame in a short 
time. Through the agency of the burning 
of these premises, large firebrands, composed 
of tar and pitch felting some two or three 
feet in length, were whirled through the air 
for several blocks, and would alight on some 
building, and hardly a minute would elapse 
before the whole structure would be involved 
in one mass of fire, thus starting in difierent 
jDarts of the city what might be called differ¬ 
ent fires, and all burning at the same time. 
A greater portion of the department was 
ordered to the south side, but it was of 
little avail, the wind blowing so fresh at this 
time as to cut a solid stream of water into 
spray, before it had gone the distance of 
twenty feet from the pipe. The fire made 
such rapid headway, that the engines ivere ■ 
moved often to save them from destruction; 
consequently large quantities of hose were 


118 


THE FIREMEN. 


abandoned and lost; — so much so, that 
there was soon a short supply. Soon it was 
discovered that the large building known as 
the Oriental Block was on fire in the rear. 
In a few minutes the entire block was wrap¬ 
ped in flames. The next to be seized was 
the Court House and Chamber of Commerce 
buildings, which were very soon destroyed. 
Shortly after this (about half-past two o’clock 
in the morning) intelligence was received 
that the water works were on fire, then one 
mile north of the main body of the fire. 
This fact convinced the fire marshal that it 
would be impossible to stay the flames in 
front. The apparatus not then engaged 
along the south line of the fire was ordered 
along the river and its branches, to obtain 
water and fight the flames on the flanks, ex¬ 
pecting to change its course towards the 
lake, and succeeded, in a measure, to do so, 
until the wind changed to a northerly direc- 


LUEID LEAVES. 


119 


tion, bringing fire and destruction with it. 
At about ten o’clock, a.m., on the 10th, en¬ 
gines arrived from Milwaukee, and were at 
work in a few minutes. By their aid, the 
fire was kept from crossing to the west side 
of the river along the north branch, and a 
portion of the buildings in the North Divi¬ 
sion were saved, by the great exertions of 
the department and citizens. In many in¬ 
stances where the engines endeavored to ob¬ 
tain water from the river, especially along 
the main and south branch, the ends of the 
streets were occupied for business purposes, 
and much time was lost in removing obsta¬ 
cles, to gain access to the river to take suc¬ 
tion. Between one and two o’clock Tuesday 
morning, the 11th, the fire had spent its 
fury. A lull of the wind, and a slight rain, 
had commenced to fall, aiding greatly in the 
work of preventing its further progress, 
which had then extended to the extreme 


120 


THE FIREMEN. 


northern suburbs of the city. Thus, within 
the space of twenty-eight hours, had the 
flames destroyed about 25,000 buildings, 
covering an area of 21,000 acres. The 
number of lives lost was nearly 300, and 
the number of people rendered homeless 
was 100,000. The value of the buildings 
destroyed was equal to those saved; so that, 
in fact, the leading city of the West was 
literally half wiped out. Engines and 
other Are apparatus were present from 
Milwaukee, Wis., Cincinnati, Ohio, Pitts¬ 
burg, Penn., New York, Detroit, Mich., 
Alleghany City, Penn., Freeport, Ill., Au¬ 
rora, Ill., Quincy, Ill., Bloomington, Ill., 
Springfield, Ill., and Louisville, Ky. Much 
valuable property was saved by their timely 
arrival. The officers, and men accompany¬ 
ing them, were untiring in their endeavors 
to save property and render assistance. The 
total loss approximated to $190,526,500; 


LUiilD LEAVES. 


121 


insurance on the same, $90,000,000; loss 
over insurance, $100,526,500. 


Another conflagration laid in ashes a con¬ 
siderable part of Chicago, Illinois, on the 
night of July 14, 1874. The fire broke out 
at 51-2 p.M. in the rear of No. 527 South 
Clark Street, near the corner of Second 
Street, in a locality where wooden buildings 
of the flimsiest order w^as the rule, and it 
did not take long to fan the incipient blaze 
into a terrible conflagration. A second, 
third, and general alarm followed rapidly, 
and soon the entire Fire Department was at 
work. A stiff gale was blowing from the 
south-west, and the flames swept steadily on, 
hedged in on either side by the efi()rts of the 
firemen, but were utterly resistless in their 
awful march towards the lake and river. 
Taking a diagonal course in a north-easterly 
direction, the fire burned a clean swath of 


122 


THE FIREMEN. 


about a block wide from Clark Street, 
across Fourth and Third Avenues, striking 
State Street at Eldredge Court, mowing 
down the Continental Hotel like a reed, and 
then widening out towards the north, and 
sweeping on across Wabash Avenue, destroy¬ 
ing the splendid First Baptist Church, near 
the corner of Hubbard Court, and also con¬ 
suming the Jewish Synagogue, corner of 
Peck Court. At one time it seemed as if 
the fire would sweep through Michigan Ave¬ 
nue, and, being hemmed in on either side 
by the firemen, would die out for lack of 
something to feed upon; but while the Bap¬ 
tist Church was wrapped in flames, and the 
firemen were exerting themselves to their 
utmost to keep the fire within the limits to 
which it seemed to have chosen, the wind 
veered and blew strong from the south, 
changing the direction of the fire, and turn¬ 
ing the flames toward a harvest of splendid 


LURID LEAVES. 


123 


buildings erected after the great fire of 1871, 
on Wabash Avenue, State and Clark Streets, 
and Michigan Avenue. In a moment the 
flames leaped across that street, and the 
Post Office was a mass of flame before the 
awed multitude could realize the extent of 
the new danger. At the same moment the 
flames sprang up again at State Street, and, 
fanned by the wind, swept northward, until, 
from State to Wabash Avenue, an awful 
avalanche of fire rolled onward towards the 
wealthy business centre of the seemingly 
fated city. After crossing Harrison Street 
and devouring the Post Office, and build¬ 
ings to the north, the angry flames leaped 
across Congress, and the great Adelphi The- 
atre soon crumbled into dust. The Davis 
Sewing Machine Building, corner of Har¬ 
rison Street and Wabash Avenue, and sev¬ 
eral stately neighbors, also proved fuel for 
the flames. Both aides of Wabash Avenue, 


124 


THE FIREMEX. 


from Eldridge Court to Congress Street, 
with now and then the exception of a build¬ 
ing, were burned to the ground, and a por¬ 
tion of State Street was laid in ruins. In 
all, about 1,000 buildings were consumed, 
but a very large proportion were mere rook¬ 
eries of the flimsiest description, whose de¬ 
struction involved comparatively little loss. 
Some sixty acres were burned over, com¬ 
prising fifteen squares, mostly lying west of 
State Street, and yet the loss fell principally 
on the east side of that street, where were 
located all the valuable buildings burned. 
The track of the flames was about half a 
mile long, and about a quarter of a mile 
wide. The fire was got under control about ‘ 
2 o’clock on the morning of the 15th. The 
loss of life was about twenty, and the value 
of property destroyed about $5,000,000. 


As a fitting close to these "Lurid Leaves,” 


LUKID LEAVES. 


125 


the fire in Boston, Massachusetts, November 
9 and 10, 1872, may now be-recorded. The 
compiler of this volume was present on that 
occasion,.and he took part, as a volunteer, 
in the unequal contest against the red-handed 
giant of Destruction; and although he had 
previously served as a fireman during a pe¬ 
riod of more than a quarter of a century, he 
never before witnessed such an extensive 
and appalling display of the Fire-Fiend let 
loose. No amount of pen-sketching would 
half tell the story of that occasion, nor is it 
given to mortal tongue or pen to express 
the emotions and feelings which fill the soul 
and the senses when such* manifestations of 

"o-reat liMit” and ”fervent heat” are pre- 
& o • 

sented. A host of ready writers attempted 
the story of the Boston- Fire, and many of 
the narratives were fine and truthful in their 
descriptive elaborations; but it is not pos¬ 
sible to pen-portray, except partially, the 


126 


THE FIREMEN. 


lurid scene, and many of the incidents must i 
ever remain unwritten. The commercial ; 
capital of New England scarred and blasted 
in a single night to the extent of nearly one- 
sixth of its territory, and the complete 
annihilation of nearly a thousand massive ' 
•warehouses, constituted a scene which were 
enousfh to cause the hand of the strono^est I 
to falter, the brain of the steadiest to whirl, i 
and the heart of the bravest to fail. It was 
an occasion which emphasized the Scripture 
truth, ” Riches take unto themselves winffs 
and fly away.” But the fire, though a ter¬ 
ribly severe one to insurance offices, and 
to many men of * wealth and business, was 
not so immediate and pointed Avith evil 
and distress to the poor. There Avere but 
few families turned or burned out of house 
and home, the fire being mostly in "the 

heart of business." The sudden "shrinkao-e 

& 

of values,” and the rapid waste of stored 



LURID LEAVES. 


127 


■wealth, was, however, sublime and sad 
to witness and contemplate. There was,"^ 
during* a period of several hours, a contin¬ 
uous destruction of property at the rate of 
$100,000 per minute. The fire was first 
seen at about 7-10 on Saturday evening, 
Nov. 9th, 1872, and the first alarm was 
sounded at 7-24, which was soon followed 
by several alarms. The weather, at the 
time, was clear and cool, the wind being 
from north-west by north, and blowing with 
a velocity of five to nine miles per hour. 
The fire originated in a building numbered 
83 and 85 Summer Street, corner of Kings¬ 
ton Street, starting in the rear basement, 
where there was a stationary steam-engine 
used for hoisting purposes. The fire un¬ 
doubtedly took from coals withdrawn from 
the furnace, and the flames passed with great 
rapidity through the elevator to the upper 
stories. The building, though it had been 


128 


THE FIREMEN. 


considered a first-class stone structure, was 
'•very soon a vast roaring mass of fire, the 
RT’anite crumblinsf as if it were chalk. Some 
delay to the firemen was caused by a lack of 
horses, as, at the time, nearly all the ani¬ 
mals were sick. Hose No. 2, and Steamer 
No. 7, were seasonably present, but the 
other apparatus were delayed from their 
schedule time three to forty minutes. These- 
lost moments probably cost millions of dol¬ 
lars. There was also a lack of water; the 
old pipes being too small to furnish the 
needed quantity. But the courage and de¬ 
votion of the firemen were sublime; no bat- 
. tie-field ever witnessed nobler heroism than 
was manifested on that occasion, and num¬ 
bers of the firemen were literally ”faithfid 
unto death.” The fire very soon extended 
from its original starting-point to the high 
buildings in the immediate vicinity, the 
flames feeding fiercely on the Mansard roofs. 


LURID LEAVES. 


129 


The fire streaked along the wooden cov¬ 
ings with startling rapidity, and in a brief 
time there were miles of the aerial fuse in 
destructive operation. From block to block, 
from street to street, on flew the fiend-like 
element till it became master of the situa¬ 
tion. But the firemen contested with al¬ 
most superhuman eflforts, and they did all 
that could be done, under the circumstances, 
to stay tlie onward and victorious march of 
tlie rampaging ash-maker. In all directions 
j save one did the fire spread, till acres of 
I warehouses, filled with merchandise, were 
j seething and roaring like a Satanic blast- 
I furnace. The miniature lumber-yards, which 

I 

composed the upper stories of many of the 
buildings, seemed to ” fraternize” with the 
fiery visitor with wonderful facility, and the 
great height of the structures prevented 
\ the firemen from bringing their streams ef- 
i fectively to bear. The conflagration spread 
' 9 


i 




130 


THE FIREMEN. 


lip Summer Street to Washington Street, on 
the west, and down Summer Street to the 
harbor, on the east, and across Winthrop 
Square, High, Chaniiing, Franklin, Milk, 
Water, Hawes, Lindall, and other streets, to 
State Street, on the north, where it was 
stopped. Nearly all the streets enumerated, 
except State Street, were put into ruins, as 
were also the longitudinally located streets 
of Hawley, Devonshire, Federal, Pearl, 
Oliver, Congress, Kilby, and several others. 
All night long the destruction went forward, 
thwarting all efforts to stop it. The scenes 
and incidents on the occasion were similar, 
with various interesting modifications, to 
those detailed in previous ” lurid leaves ” re¬ 
specting other large fires. The firemen were 
driven from point to point, and the vast 
crowd of lookers-on ^ave vent to their vol- 
untary suggestions how to manage the fire. 
Officious personages meddled, and toted gun- 


LURID LEAVES. 


131 


powder around in a manner that hindered 
the firemen ; and waiting from- time to time 
for buildings in the presumed path of the 
fire to be toppled down by the powder, did 
vastly more harm than good. 

A good deal of interfering with the Chief 
Engineer Tvas done by officials and others, 
who wanted to have " this ” and " that ” tried 
with powder ; and several attempts were made 
in their mode of heading off* the fire, without 
avail. In fact the Chief made his greatest 
mistake in omitting to lock up a score of 
well-meaning, though injudicious persons, 
who thought they knew best how to stay the 
fiery tide. The firemen kept on fighting 
the fiames, retreating and returning, fighting 
at points all along the fire’s fianks, till they 
finally narrowed the swath of destruction to 
the Merchants Exchange Building, on State 
Street, where the fire was stopped. 

The result of the eighteen hours of fire- 



132 


THE FIREMEN. 


sway was the destruction of 776 buildings, 
valued at $13,500,000, together with mer¬ 
chandise and other property of an estimated 
value of $60,000,000 more. The territory in 
ruins embraced sixty-five acres. The num¬ 
ber of lives lost was about 100. There were 
present as helpers, on the occasion of the 
fire, thirty-one engine, hose, and ladder com¬ 
panies, with their apparatus, from other 
cities and towns. An investigation into the 
management of the fire was had, which 
showed that the fire apparatus and the water 
supply were insufficient for such an exten¬ 
sive conflagration. The Investigating Com¬ 
mittee heard a vast mass of testimony on 
the subject, which was printed, forming a 
volume of several hundred pages. A change 
in the fire system of the city followed, con¬ 
trol of the Fire Department passing from 
the Chief Engineer to a Board of Commis¬ 


sioners, 




SKETCHES. 


Fires may he Lessened, 

LMOST every day, even in summer 



months, when stores and warehouses and 
factories are not heated by fuel, and when 
neither gas nor oil is burned in the majority 
of them, the record of destructive tires pre¬ 
sents before the public of the United States 
the fullest proof of the carelessness and reck¬ 
lessness of our population in neglecting to 
take necessary precautions in regard to the 
origin of these conflagrations. The loss 
which this country sustains every year by 
tires is enormous. Wealth cannot be accu¬ 
mulated, and capital increased, so long as 
property is burned at the rate of $200,000,000 

annuallv. That amount alone would be a 

•/ 

very handsome addition per annum to the 


( 133 ) 



134 


THE FIREMEN. 


capital of the United States. The great se- 

1 

cret of the destructiveness of fires is the rate 
at which they are allowed to spread, even 

in cities with a good fire department, before | 

! 

the arrival of the engines and the turning on 
of the water. Fire extends in more than ' 
geometrical progression. The -first spark 

could be easily extinguished. Even after it 

1 

has blazed up freely for several minutes, it 
might be readily quenched. When, how¬ 
ever, fifteen or twenty minutes have elapsed, 
it has got sufficient hold to resist all efforts 
to control it, until it has, perhaps, burned ^ 
down an entire block, or more. In cities 
it is a very usual thing for the police, on 
discovering a fire, to break open the j)rem- 
ises before the fire-engines arrive. The po- t 
lice have as yet no means at hand that they 
can efiectually emplo}^ to extinguish the 
flames. The opening of the several doors 
and windows fans the smouldering fire into 







SKETCHES. 


135 


full blaze; and if there is not a speedy 
destruction of the entire building, it is not 
the lault of the police. Next to pouring 
water on a fire, the best thing to do is to 
keep it smothered and confined. So long 
as it is not well fed by air, it will not extend 
itself very rapidly. Cannot the police of 
cities be taught not to open either door or 
window of any burning buildin^ until the 
firemen do this, when they are prepared to 
drown the flames with water? Even the 
firemen ought to open but as few passages 
for the air as possible. In all large estab¬ 
lishments, where a watchman is kept on the 
premises at night, there ought to be means 
of extinguishing fire, ready at hand, on 
every floor. There are many places in large 
cities wdiere the watchman has not even a 
bucket of water convenient to cast on the 
first spot that might catch fire. While he 
sounds the alarm, and the firemen are get- 


136 


THE FIREMEN. 


ting to the place, the work of destruction 
proceeds, and by the time the water is turned 
on the premises are past being saved. Why 
not have a supply of full buckets of water 
on each floor, in all extensive premises, to 
be used on the first sign of fire ? Where a 
water supply for extinguishing fires can be 
carried through large buildings, with hose 
on each floor, ready to be attached in an in¬ 
stant, there is no excuse for not taking so 
very necessary a precaution. The question 
of expense is not a sutficient plea to i*aise in 
a matter of this kind. Three-fourths of all 
the fires could be snufied out at starting, if 
the means were oiil}^ at hand with which to 
combat the fire in its origin. During the 
summer months there ought to be a very 
general overhauling of the means by which 
large buildings are heated. When fires are 
lighted there is a regular run of fires from 
the usual cause, — "defective stove-pipes.’’ 


SKETCHES. 


137 


Every proprietor who does not desire to see 
his property consumed, ought to look after 
the heating apparatus during the summer 
months. At every place where a hot pipe 
passes too near wood-work, alterations ought 
to be made so as to give sufficient protection 
against mnition when stoves, heaters and 
furnaces are re-lighted. 

Godliness is Projitahle unto All Things, 

For a dozen years or more the Kev. Sain- 
' uel Scoville has been Pastor of the Congre¬ 
gational Church of Norwich, New York, 
and he has been personally identified with 
the firemen of the town, joining them in the 
first instance as a private, and rising, by 
faithful service, to the rank of foreman of 
his company, and at last to that of Chief 
Engineer of the Fire Department. He al¬ 
ways turns out for fires by night or by day, 
like the rest of the men, ^vears the same uni- 



138 


THE FIREMEN. 


form, and works with the same energy. It 
is no secret that he is greatly beloved by 
his brother firemen, and that his influence 
among them is very great. For his sake 
many a man has left off profane swearing, 
and the use of intoxicating drinks. Mr. 
Scoville once preached to the firemen in his 
own church, they filling the pews and he the 
pulpit, — he and they being in full uniform. 
He gave the address at the unveiling of the 
Firemen’s Monument in Spring Forest Cem¬ 
etery, Binghampton, N.Y. These sentences 
from the concluding passage show what 
wholesome and earnest spiritual analogies 
Mr. Scoville finds in the unselfish functions 
of the fireman’s office: "One word more. 
Brother Firemen : Our shaft points upward ; 
let it be the finger-post to the direction which 
our feet are treading. I have called you 
preservers, and you are. This is the very 
heart of your service, — to save property 



SKETCHES. 


139 


find life. Now you know who stands at the 
head of that line : the Chief Engineer — I 
speak reverently — of that wdiole Depart¬ 
ment of the Preservers, standing forward so 
prominently in this, that he is called The 
Saviour, I would have, then, that our 
work should form one bond of union — cre¬ 
ate one feature of resemblance to him — and 
find its completeness in the full and perfect 
work which he is carrying forward in the 
world; 'that having stood by him in the put¬ 
ting down all that destroys, we shall share 
with him the glory of the final triumph.” 

[It was an irreverent volunteer who yelled, 
Bully for you ! ”] 


Fire-Boat, 

The annexed is a description of a fire-boat 
vbuilt for the City of Boston, and now in ser¬ 
vice, and which has proved a valuable aux¬ 
iliary to the Department: The fire-boat is 



140 


THE FIREMEN. 


about fifty-live tons measurement, and meas¬ 
ures seventy-five feet in length, fifteen feet 
beam, and seven feet in depth. Her hull is 
built of iron, the keel, stem and stern-posts 
being of hammered metal; and the frames, 
which are of reverse angle iron, spread 
twenty-one inches between centres, are stift- 
ened by vertical floor-plates. Three keel¬ 
sons extend the entire length of the boat. 
The forecastle below deck is fitted with 
berths, table-seats and lockers, for the ac¬ 
commodation of the men. The house on 
deck has a cabin, engine, boiler, cook and 
hose-rooms, all of which are finished in a 
substantial and workmanlike manner. The 
pilot-house is on top of the main house over 
the hose-room, and is fitted with seats and 
mahogany steering-wheel; a hand-rail ex¬ 
tends around the house to prevent accident, 
and the top is covered with tin, to insure 
safety from fire. The main eno:ine is ver- 

4^ O 


141 


SKETCHES. 


tical, direct acting, high pressure, with link 
motion and independent cut-off valve. Its 
diameter of evlinder is seventeen inches, 
and seventeen-inch stroke. The propeller 
is six feet in diameter, with five inch 
wrought-iron shaft; two force-pumps driven 
from the main shaft, and one steam-pump 
for feeding the boiler, and a steam siphon- 
pump for the bilge. The boiler is an 
upright tubidar with cylindrical fire-box, 
twenty-four feet grate surface. The whole 
power of the fire-engine machinery is equal 
in capacity to four first-class fire-engines, 
and with all in action will play eight streams 
at one time. 


Hose Elevator and Fire-Escape, 

The best apparatus for the above purposes 
invented up to the time of compiling this 
volume, consists of a shaft put into or above 
the cornice of the building, secured by iron 



142 


THE FIREMEN. 


beams to the roof timbers. On this shaft is 
a drum, upon which is wound a pliable wire 

ladder composed of twelve wire cables, each 

« 

one-eighth of an inch in diameter, and steps 
of flat band iron one-eighth of an inch thick, 
one and one-sixteenth of an inch wide, and 
twenty inches in length. Inside of the 
ladder-drum is a pulley through which passes 
a stout wire cable, one end having a hook 
and snatch-block attached, the other end a 
hook only. These hooks, before the ladder 
is wound up, are fastened to the bottom step 
of the ladder. The ladder and hose elevator 
are wound up together by means of gearing. 
From the top runs a wire cord to the side¬ 
walk, attached to which is a lever controlling 
the top, and enclosed in a box similar to the 
fire-alarm box. On discovery of a fire the 
box is unlocked, the lever pulled, and the 
ladder and hose elevator rapidly descend to 
the ground. A weight at the bottom insures 


SKETCHES. 


143 


its descent, while the rapidity is regulated 
by a governor attached to the gearing on 
the roof. On reaching the ground the lad¬ 
der is secured firmly to eye-bolts in the 
pavement, and on the arrival of the Depart¬ 
ment everything is ready for work. *The 
firemen first go to the roof, or any story, by 
the ladder, the hooks of the hose elevator 
are released from the bottom step of the 
ladder, to one of them is attached the hose, 
while the other hook is fastened to the hose- 
carriage. The horse is then driven off, and 
the hose is thus raised to the desired height, 
and in less than two minutes iifter the arrival 
of the engine the firemen may be on the 
roof with their hose in full play. The lad¬ 
der is capable of supporting a weight of 
from 8,000 to 10,000 pounds, and the cable 
used for clevatin£r the hose, which mav also 
be used for lowering goods or persons from 
the windows, will support from 2,000 to 
3,000 pounds w^eight. 


144 


THE FIREMEX. 


Fuel for Steamers, 

An important consideration to those main¬ 
taining steam fire departments, is the matter 

* 

of fuel for use in the steamers. That kind 
of fuel which will weigh the least, oc¬ 
cupy the least space, and yet produce the 
most steam in the least time, is the grand 
desideratum. The following indicates the 
comparative steam-generating power of va¬ 
rious fuels, to convert water at fifty-two de¬ 
grees into steam at two hundred and twenty 
degrees, with one pound of fuel: 


1 lb. Dry pine wood, 

evaporates 

3 10 lbs. water 

1 lb. Dry oak, 

it 

4.85 

it 

1 lb. English Staffordshire coal. 

Cl 

6.04 

it 

1 lb. Splint coal. 

4( 

. 6.75 

ti 

1 lb. American Anthracite, 

U 

7.00 

it 

1 lb. Coke made in close vessels, 

it 

7.70 

tt 

1 lb. Newcastle coal. 

41 

7.90 

tt 

1 lb. Best Wallsend, 

ci 

8.60 

tt 

1 lb. Cumberland, 

It 

10.00 

tt 

It is claimed that f 

i superior 

fuel 

for a 


steam-generator is obtained by mixing two 





SKETCHES. 


145 


tons of Cumberland with three tons of An¬ 
thracite. 


^ Model Engine-House. 

In Xashiia, N.H., there is an engine-house 
wdiich is one of the largest, most convenient, 
and substantial buildings of the kind in the 
State. The architecture is a modern im- 
0 provement on the old Norman and Gothic, 
and, from the location, serves the double pur¬ 
pose of being ornamental and useful. The 
house has a front 50 feet 8 inches, a depth 
of 70 feet on the main building, and 44 feet 
on the stable, with sheds for city carts, etc., 
at right angles. It covers, with the yards 
and driveways, an entire square, and is, 
therefore, easy of access from any given 
point. The height of the first story is 13 
feet 5 inches, the second story 11 feet. 
The tower is 60 feet to the bell deck, and 
100 feet to the spire. The arrangement of 


10 



146 


THE FIREMEN. 


the lower story furnishes ample accommoda¬ 
tions for the entire fire department of the 
city, and is sufficiently large for an addition 
of two more .steam fire-enirines and a hook 
and ladder carriage, should the growth of 
the city in the next century require it. The 
-second story is conveniently divided into 
sleeping-rooms, engineers’ headquarters, bath 
and wash-rooms, and a hall 47 by 26 feet. 

A Fugitive all Ablaze. 

A man was recently arrested at Sutton, 
P.'Q., for fraudulent transactions in the 
United States, and was brought before a 
magistrate there, and held until the proper 
papers under the Ashburton Treaty could 
be prepared. He was taken into a hotel for 
dinner, and as he went in, with the United 
States detective on one side, and the Cana¬ 
dian officer, in wdiose charge he wtis, on the 
other, two or three acquaintances whispered 



SKETCHES. 


147 


to him. The United States officer cautioned 
the Canadian officer against allowing such a 
thing, but he considered it all right. When 
they arose from dinner it was proposed that 
the man be handcuffed, as a precaution, but 
the Canadian officer said ”No, there was no 
need of it.” The prisoner was furnished a 
cigar, and lit it, and the three went to the 
front of the hotel, where a carriage w^as in 
waiting to convey him to jail. A saddled 
horse v-as also standing near at hand; and, 
as they passed down the steps, the same 
men again wdnspered to the prisoner, who 
immediately darted to the side of the sad¬ 
dled horse, mounted, and was off in a twink- 
linof. A number of horses near at hand 
were mounted as soon as possible, and, with 
cries of " Stop thief,” a large number joined 
in the chase. The rogue had a fleet horse, 
however, and steadily left his pursuers. 
After about three miles the horse began to 


148 


THE FIREMEN. 


lag, and, as another bad thing, the fugitive’s 
coat appeared on fire, which he was trying 
hard to put out. He had thrust a cigar, 
lighted, into his pocket. At the end of the 
fourth mile another saddled horse w^as brought 
out of a piece of woods, but before he could 
mount it he w^as captured. He w^as found 
to be considerably burned. The Canadian 
officer placed his prisoner on a horse, and, 
making him clasp his hands around the ani¬ 
mal’s neck, handcuffed them there. He also 
tied his legs together beneath the horse’s 
body, and in this condition marched him into 
Sutton, where it w^as suggested that the way 
of the transgressor is sometimes hot as well 
as hard. 


A. Looh Bachivard, 

At a reunion of firemen held in Boston, 
1874, Ex-Mayor Quincy was introduced as 
a very old mayor, but a very young man. 



SKETCHES. 


149 


Mr. Quincy, without fully acceiDting the flat¬ 
tering remark, said that he remembered that 
he was once a young man, and, he was proud 
to add, a member of the Boston Fire Depart¬ 
ment. He had run with the machine before 
nine-tenths of those he saw before him were 
born. He said that the circumstances under 
which he became a member of the Depart¬ 
ment were these : During or about the time 
when a well-known citizen, whose name hap¬ 
pened to be the same as his own, was Mayor 
of the City, occurred the great Beacon Street 
fire. This event produced the greatest ex¬ 
citement and terror among the people. Pre¬ 
vious to this, the old mode of extinguishing 
fires had been in vogue : namely, by forming 
lines and passing buckets. Much against 
the wishes of the old firemen of that day, 
the City Government procured a new en¬ 
gine, called the "Philadelphia,” which was 
provided with suction as well as leading 


150 


THE FIREMEN. 


hose, and enabled the services of the bucket- 
holders to be dispensed with. So deter¬ 
mined was the conservatism of the veterans, 
that it was found difficult to enlist men to 
run the new engine; and in order that, spite 
of opposition,' the experiment of using an 
improved apparatus might be fairly tried, 
he, among others, joined the company, 
which was at length formed, to run the 
"Philadelphia.” Aihong his experiences in 
the service he recollected that on one occa¬ 
sion there was a fire near one of the North 
End wharves, and his company passed down 
the wharf, between high piles of wood, to 
get a position to draft water. These piles 
of wood at length took fire, and for some 
time there was every prospect that they 
would be compelled to save their engine by 
ruiming it overboard, and to get away them¬ 
selves by boats or by swimmiinr. Finallv, 
however, they conquered the fire. He men- 


SKETCHES. 


151 


tioiied this partly because it suggested to him 
a significant contrast between the old times 
and the present, not less significant than the 
change from hand-buckets to steam fire-en¬ 
gines. x\t that time nothing but wood was 
burned for fuel in Boston, and he recollected 
that his college chum, having made a visit to 
Baltimore, brought back as curiosities some 
pieces of anthracite coal, which had just 
come into use as fuel in that city. These 
specimens remained on his parlor mantle- 
piece for a year or more, and were regarded 
with curious interest. 


Hounding a Period. 

The Hon. Thomas Corwin, while a mem¬ 
ber of Congress, on one occasion struck an 
eloquent note, as follows : " A new man ap¬ 
pears upon the stage — a Corsican lieutenant 
— Napoleon. He ravishes Austria, covers 
her land with blood, drives the northern 



152 


THE FIREMEN. 


Caesar from his capital, and sleeps in his 
palace. The successors of the great Fred¬ 
erick, the drill-sergeant of Europe, are seen 
flying across the sandy plains that surround 
their capital, right glad that they escape 
captivity and death.” He then asks how it 
fares with Russia. '' Suddenly we see six 
hundred thousand armed men marching to 
Moscow. Blood, slaughter, desolation spread 
abroad over the land, and finally the con¬ 
flagration of the old commercial metropolis 
of Russia closes the retribution. She must 
pay for her share in the dismemberment of 
her weak and impotent neighbor. Mr. Pres¬ 
ident, a mind more prone to look for the 
judgments of Heaven in the doings of men 
than mine, cannot fail to see, in this, the 
providence of God.” He closes his speech 
with this splendid sentence : ” When Mos¬ 
cow burned it seemed as if the earth was 
lighted up, that the nations might behold the 


SKETCHES. 


153 


scene. As that mighty sea of fire gathered, 

and heaved, and rolled upward, and 3 ^et 

higher, until its flames licked the stars and 

fired the whole heavens, it did seem as 
** • 

thoimh the God of Nations was writius: in 
characters of flame on the front of His throne 
the doom which shall fall upon the strong 
nation which tramples in scorn upon the 
weak.” 


The Chicago Fire Monument. 

The location of the monument is in Cen¬ 
tral Park, the grounds of which comprise 
175 acres of land. It has a total height of 
125 feet. The base is a Gothic circular ar¬ 
cade, composed of twelve groined arches, 
resting on a raised platform thirty-six feet 
in diameter. Height of the arcade to the 
floor of the terrace, nineteen feet. There 
are twelve detached columns and twelve 
three-quarter columns, with caps and bases 



154 


THE FIKEMEN. 


of marble, and shafts of polished Scotch 
granite. The arches between the inner cir¬ 
cle of columns are occupied, one by a door 
opening into an iron staircase, leading to the 

A 

terrace above ; the others, eleven in number, 
are filled with marble tablets, on which are 
inscribed the names of cities contributing to 
the relief of Chicago, and the sums donated, 
together with other events connected with 
the destruction and relief of the cit^^ This 
circular arcade is surrounded by a stone 
platform ten feet in width, and raised three 
steps above a concrete walk twenty feet in 
width. The second story of the monument 
is a circular shaft, decorated with eisrht col- 
onnaded arches, containing tablets, also, for 
inscriptions, and four Gothic porches, one 
being a door from the stairway on to the 
terrace, the other windows liijhtin" the inte- 
rior. The spire of the monument is com¬ 
posed of safes contributed by the Chicago 


SKETCHES. 


155 


merchants, the whole terminated by a Gothic 
column surmounted by a female figure hold¬ 
ing aloft, in both hands, a flaming torch, 
emblematic of destruction by fire. 

Fire-proof and Water-proof Floors. 

In many conflagrations the fire is largely 
fed by the wood-work of the floors. The 
fronts cover a net-work of timber, some of 
it saturated with resin, and all of it ready to 
flash from floor to floor with rapidity. A 
method of constructing fire-proof floors has 
been developed, giving satisfactory results, 
consists in spanning the interval between the 
walls with wrought-iron beams of suflicient 
strength, and filling the intervals between 
the beams with low brick arches. It is easv, 
by o'oserving whether the ceiling consists 
of a series of parallel arches, to ascertain 
whether a building is fire-proof or not. Of 
course no building can be safe which con- 



156 


THE FIREMEN. 


tains substances capable of furnishing their 
own oxygen, such as fireworks; while the 
presence of such combustibles as petroleum, 
which cannot be extinguished by water, but 
floats merrily along on its surface, is inad¬ 
missible. As wood-work must be supplied 
with air from below to burn readily, a plank¬ 
covering can safely be laid upon the more 
massive foundation. A fire-proof floor can 
readily be made water-proof as well; and, 
by a proper arrangement of the staircases, 
any story could be flooded with water with¬ 
out afiecting those below, just as a roof can 
be flooded without injuring the loft which it 
covers. Many of the New England cotton- 
mills are provided with a simple but effective 
system, which enables any story to be flooded 
in a moment. An elevated reservoir, of 
sufficient capacity, is kept constantly filled 
by suitable pumps, and fi-om this a pipe is 
led which includes all the mills in its circuit. 


SKETCHES. 


157 


The various departments in each establish¬ 
ment are provided with perforated iron pipes 
extending along the ceiling. These pipes 
remain empty until a tire is discovered, 
when the water is turned on, and it is speed¬ 
ily extinguished. 

Obeying Orders. 

It is usually proper for firemen to obey 
the orders of their ofiicers, though the fol¬ 
lowing cases illustrate the fact that ofiicers 
and privates sometimes make mistakes: 
Once the Fire Department of Chelsea, Mass., 
had a new chief, who thought he " knew it 
all,” and on occasions of fire he assumed to 
be a very consequential personage. At one 
time there was a fire in a wooden block in 
which there were partition walls of stone 
and brick. The chief, thinking that things 
were what they seemed, ordered an axe-man 
to ” knock a hole ” through a certain parti- 



158 


THE FIKExMEN. 


tioii, into an adjoining room, and then he 
went elsewhere, attending to duty. The 
man with the axe operated on the wall, and 
soon got through the sheathing of wood to 
the stone-work; there he found hard work, 
hut he continued to peg away till he used up 
several axes, when he desisted. The chief 
soon made his appearance, and demanded 
the reason why the professional hole-maker 
had not complied with the order to put an 
opening for hose through that partition? 
The reply was, that ”thc supply-train of 
axes had not arrived ! ” 

The American Eagle fire company once 
tried to obey orders under difficulties. One 
evening an alarm of fire was sounded in the 
village where the company was located, caused 
by a great light along the northern sky. The 
rope of the "Eagle” was immediately man¬ 
ned, and awa}" they Avent for that fire, under 
orders from the captain to "get to it, even if it 


SKETCHES. 


159 


was out of town.” Over hills and throusrli 
valleys rolled the "Eagle,” amid the inspir¬ 
iting cries of "Now you see it, — wake her 
up, boys ! ” After a tug of ten miles or more, 

with no nearer prospect of getting a stream 

•' * 

on that fire, the captain, who "knew a thing 

or two,” and was a wag, withal, commanded 

# 

a "hold on,” and told his men that he 
guessed the aurora borealis would continue 
to blaze away in spite of ’em ! 

The Volunteer Members. 

Almost all fire organizations outside of 
cities where the steam fire engine has not 
wrought a revolution, there are connected 
with the regular force numbers of young 
men who attach themselves to the machine, 
and affiliate with the regulars, "just for the 
fun of the thing.” These men are designated 
as "volunteers,” "runners,” "substitutes,” 
" aids,” and sometimes as " benders-on,” 



160 


THE FIREMEN. 


” blowers,” or " cnicker-aiicl-clieese fellows.” 
Because of youth, or other reasons, these 
young men do not "jine in” as regulars, 
thouo:h they often take fully as much interest 

in the success of a fayorite machine, and do 

« • 

much to help sustain the reputation of " our 
crowd ” for smartness. They sleep with one 
eye open, to be early on hand in case of an 
alarm of fire, and are usually first at the ap¬ 
paratus house. They sometimes make a 
good deal of noise, and they tug lustily at 
the bell and drag-ropes. They are ready 
and anxious to do anything to help run their 
" bully tub ” past that " old box ” which is 
operated by " forty-eleven’s company.” They 
are young men of sound lungs and fleet feet, 
and if there is a little " rouo:hin 2 : ” to be 
done they are just the boys to do it. Some- 
times they cause trouble to old fogies, bring¬ 
ing on ruptures between the regular organ¬ 
izations ; but after the street fun is oyer, 


SKETCHES. 


161 


and the fire is out, they adjourn to the com¬ 
pany refreshments with good-will, where 
they spill the hot coflfee and munch crackers 
and cheese. It is then and there that won¬ 
derful stories are told how they ran faster, 
put on the first stream, got up the first 
ladder, and done more wonderful things 
than ”old forty-leven,” or any other crowd. 

What is F’ive-proof Construction? 

There appears to be in the minds of most 
ordinary persons, and indeed of many prac¬ 
tical men, a considerable amount of confusion 
between materials that are incombustible 
and those which are fire-proof. The former 
term is applicable to all materials which will 
not take fire or blaze up when subjected to 
great heat, or which can never be made to 
act as additional fuel to the flames, such as 
stone, brick, concrete, iron, cement, plaster, 
tile, slate, glass, and several hard woods. 


11 



162 


THE FIREMEN. 


Only a few, however, of these can be prop¬ 
erly called fire-proof, or capable of resisting, 
without change, the action of intense heat. 
Among the great variety of building-stones, 
but few can be considered fire-proof. Lime¬ 
stones are readily calcined and converted 
into quicklime by the action of fire, so that 
staircases of such material are more danger¬ 
ous than wooden ones, as they snap ofi* and 
fall in a mass as soon as the flames touch 
them. Many flagstones will split to pieces 
by the action of fire; but there are many 
good building-stones, called by geologists 
the “ grits,” which are capable of withstand- 
great heat. The grits are the coarse sand¬ 
stones which may be considered as fire-proof. 
Granites are not so fire-resisting as their 
igneous origin would lead one to expect; 
but they are capable of withstanding a con¬ 
siderable heat unless suddenly acted upon, 
when hot, by a jet of w^ater. There are sev- 




SKETCHES. 1G3 

eral kinds of artificial stone made 'which are 
more fire-proof than most of the natural 
stones. Concrete may be considered as an 
artificial stone, but if made with broken 
limestone, it will not be fire-proof; the mate¬ 
rials used with the cement must be either 
sandstone pebbles, such as found in gravel, 
flints, broken brick, or burnt cla}^ Slates 
are not by any means fire-proof, as thej^ 
split to pieces under the action of fire. All 
the harder kinds of brick and tile may be 
generally considered as capable of resisting 
fire when used as walls, or as arched floors ; 
but the softer kinds crumble when highly 
heated, especially if water touch them. 
Bricks made of fire-clay arc the best that 
can be used in forming fire-proof structures. 
Iron becomes so much weakened when highly 
heated, that it can hardly be looked upon as 
fire-proof, unless protected by some non¬ 
conducting substance; it is found, however. 


164 


THE FIREMEN. 


that solid cast-iron columns will stand heat 
better than hollow ones, and as they take up 
less room, they might easily be protected 
by a coating of cement or other material, 
without occupjdng more space than hollow 
columns of the same strength would do. 
Cast-iron girders soon give way if heated 
and then cooled by a jet of water, and 
wrought-irou beams twist and thrust out or 
pull down the walls ; so that unless well pro¬ 
tected, they must never be used in buildings 
professing to be tire-proof. Although glass 
cannot be made to take fire, yet it breaks 
into pieces as soon as the heat reaches it, 
and liquifies at a moderate temperature. 
The number of materials for constuction 
which may be considered fire-proof is very 
limited, and it depends in a great degree 
upon the manner in which these are used, 
whether the building is fire-proof or not. 
Many of the harder kinds of timber, if used 


SKETCHES. 


165 


ill lurge scantling, may be considered as fire- 
resisting ; the effect of heat does not pen¬ 
etrate into the interior of the wood, and only 
chars the outside; but when timber is cut 
up into thin slices as joists or rafters, it 
readily ignites, and adds fuel to the fire. 
Ordinary dwellings may be rendered sufli- 
cieutly fire-proof, at moderate expense, by 
avoiding the use of materials that readily 
catch fire, such as thin joists and rafters, and 
light balusters to the staircases; by putting 
thick joists to carry the floors and pugging 
between them; by filling up the space under 
the staircase, between the w^ooden treads and 
plaster soffit; by using iron balusters to the 
stairs ; avoiding quarter partitions, or having 
them bricknogged so as to leave no hollow 
spaces ; by having the floor-boards of wain¬ 
scot instead of deal, and tongued with iron. 
But it is not in buildings of this class that 
the ffrcat fires occur, and which can be ren- 


IGG 


THE FIHEMEN. 


tiered practically fire-proof without much dif¬ 
ficulty or expense, but in the large ware¬ 
houses covering acres or even miles of ground, 
and in which thousands of tons of inflammable 
goods are stored. These’ buildings require 
a very different mode of construction, to ren¬ 
der them capable of withstanding the tremen¬ 
dous heat that will be generated if a fire 
occurs in their great rooms. In the first 
place, the walls of such buildings ought to 
be made much thicker than is usual; an 
extra half-brick or whole brick in thickness 
would not add much to the cost, and would 
increase the stability to a very great degree. 
The brickwork should be protected both in¬ 
side and outside with cement or plaster mate¬ 
rials. Concrete would be a better material 
than brick for the walls of warehouses, and 
need not be made so thick as would be re¬ 
quired for brick walls, being about one-third 
or one-fourth stronger; it should, however, 


SKETCHES. 


167 


have plenty of iron hooping as bond through¬ 
out it, so as to prevent settlements and cracks. 
Concrete should also be used for the stair¬ 
cases and landings, iron hooping or wire 
being used to prevent risk of fracture, the 
steps cast in moulds and built into the walls 
on both sides, and not made to hang over on 
the outer side. If stone is, however, used for 
stairs, it should be the hard ” grits,” and free 
from laminations. Steps may also be made 
of fire-clay, terra-cotta, or artificial stone, 
which are both durable and fire-resistinir. 
For warehouses of large size it is almost 
impossible to dispense entirely with the use 
of iron girders to carry the floors ; but these 
must be entirely covered up and protected 
so as to prevent the fire, should it occur, 
from touching them. A good way to do 
this is to lay concrete, a few inches thick, 
flush with the underside of the girders, and 
then cover the whole with common plaster; 


168- 


THE FIREMEN. 


the floor above can then be laid in any way 
that is most convenient, as the concrete 
below will eflectually stop any fire trom 
passing through ; — the concrete should have 
iron hooping or wire bedded in it. If it l)e 
found necessary to support the girders in 
the middle, hollow iron pillars must be 
avoided, and they may be either of solid 
cast-iron, or, what would be better, of fire¬ 
bricks moulded circular, and built up into 
a round pillar. If cast-iron is used for the 
pillars, it should be protected by a covering 
of fire-brick, concrete, or plaster. The ceil¬ 
ing of the top story should always be made 
fire-proof, and independent of the roof over 
it, which may then be made of any ordinary 
material; or even if the roof took fire, it 
would not be communicated to the floor 
below, provided a fire-proof ceiling inter¬ 
vened. This is a point that cannot be too 
strongly insisted upon, as it is generally 



SKETCHES. 


169 


from the falling in of the roof that the total 
destruction of the building follows. The 
iron girders which carry the floors should 
not be built into the wall, which is weakened 
by so doing, but rather supported on corbels 
of fire-brick or hard grit stone; in either 
plan, however, the ends must be allowed full 
play, so that ill case of any expansion they 
may not thrust out the walls. When an 
iron breast-summer is introduced to carry 
the weight of a wall above, it must be com¬ 
pletely protected, as any twisting or yielding 
in the beam will endanger the superstructure. 
A casing of timber plastered over would be 
an eflective means of keeping off the heat from 
the iron. The windows of a warehouse form 
an important feature, and one that should 
never l^e overlooked in considering the action 
of fire. If all the window's and other open¬ 
ings could be kept closed, a fire occurring in 
a room wmuld soon burn itself out from want ■ 


170 


TPTE FIllEMEN. 


of a sufficient supply of oxygen ; but in most 
warehouses there are broken squares of glass 
which will supply air to the flames, and heat 
up the whole room to the temperature of a 
blast furnace in a very short time. It is 
useless to have the frames and sash bars of 
iron, if the glass is continually being brok¬ 
en. When warehouses are built in separate 
blocks, but having openings for communica¬ 
tion between them, they are fitted with 
double iron doors, having a space nearly 
equal to the thickness of the party wall 
betAveen the tAvo doors. The proper con¬ 
struction of these doors is a very important 
matter, and the neglect of AAdiich has been 
the cause of many fires extending from block 
to block, until the AAdiole series are destroyed. 
If the doors are made of one thickness of 
Avrought-iron, that next the room in Avhich 
the fire originates soon becomes red hot, and 
so twisted out of its frame as to allow heat to 



SKETCHES. 171 

tlie inner door, which in its turn gets twisted, 
and admits the flames to the next block of 
buildings. These doors ought each to be 
made two or three inches thick, and of 
double sheet iron, filled in with some non¬ 
conducting substance; the bolts of the lock 
should be made to shoot both w.ays into the 
frame in three places, and the frame should 
be built into the wall, at least half a brick 
back from the face, so that the fire can have 
no etfect upon it. If one of these doors 
becomes red-hot, even on the inner face, no 
injury will happen to the other door, beyond 
the scorching of one side. The heads and 
sills of these doors should be formed either of 
hard grit-stone, concrete, fire-brick, or artifi¬ 
cial stone. Staircases should always be sep¬ 
arated by party walls from the several rooms, 
and should have iron doors to close the open- 
insfs from them into the warehouse. All well- 
holes should be built up solid from bottom to 
top. 


172 


THE FIREMEN. 


Much has been said about having a good 
water supply, with hydrants all over the 
premises, and watchmen always at hand to 
extinguish the first spark of fire that may be 
discovered; but it is best to place little 
confidence in such arrangements, as it almost 
invariably happens that a fire breaks out 
wdien least expected, and when either the 
water supply has run short, or the watchman 
has been called away ; and, before the appli¬ 
ances can be made use of, the fire has got 
such a hold on the premises that the engines 
cannot put it out. With ample means at 
command, and a variety of material ready to 
hand, an architect of the present day ought 
to find but little difficulty in being more than 
a match for that most destructive of all ele¬ 
ments— Fire. 


Great Fires of History, 

Thus far, the Chicago Fire of 1871 stands 
about second in magnitude among the destruc- 




SKETCHES. 


173 


live conflagrations recorded in the annals of the 
world ; and modern history hardly furnishes 
a parallel. In the earlier ages, the destruc¬ 
tion of cities by wrathful armies was the work 
of days. Jerusalem, with its thousands of in¬ 
habitants, fell a victim to the flames, and the 
misery there has been written in words that 
can never be forgotten. Moscow was burned 
as one of the strategies of war. In Chicago 
the loss is placed at $150,000,000, and the 
number of buildings at nearly 10,000, the 
value of which severally exceeding the value 
of those burned at Moscow in a triple ratio. 
The followinsr are some of the irreat tires 
recorded in modern history : London, 1666, 
13,200 buildings destroyed; loss, $55,000- 
000. Moscow, 1812, 30,800 buildings burn¬ 
ed ; loss, $150,000,000; only 6,000 houses 
left standing. Savannah, 1820, 463 buildings 
burned ; loss, $8,000,000. New York, 1835, 
463 buildings burned; loss, $18,000,000. 



174 


THE FIREMEN. 


Pittsburg, 1845, 1,200 buildings destroy¬ 
ed; loss, $5,000,000. St. Louis, 1848, 
418 buildings and 27 steamboats burned; 
loss, $6,000,000. San Francisco, 1851,2,500 
buildings burned; loss, $17,000,000. Con¬ 
stantinople, 1852, 3,500 buildings burned. 
Hamburg, 1852, 1,747 buildings burned. 
Portland, 1866, 1,600 buildings burned ; loss 
above insurance, $5,500,000. Constanti¬ 
nople, 1870, over 7,000 buildings burned; 
1,000 lives, and $25,000,000 worth of prop¬ 
erty lost. Boston, 1872, more than 700 
buildings and about $80,000,000 of property 
destroyed. 

It is difficult to decide which was The 
Greatest Fire, for the figures indicate that 
where the number of buildings destroyed 
was the largest, the value was less than 
where fewer in numbers were destroyed at 
other fires. There are also various other 
matters properly to be considered, such as 


SKETCHES. 


175 


the number of lives lost, and the amount of 
; personal suffering involved. 

Fox-Tail Burners. 

It is recorded in a reliable book that once 
upon a time there was some fire-setting done 
by members of the animal kingdom which 
have always been considered as wily and 
instinctively cautious. The narrative, in 
the original, is quaint and readable, being 

of consideration by Amer¬ 
ican Firemen. Without reproducing a de¬ 
tail of the affair here, the points are, sub¬ 
stantially, that a son of Maiioah, who had 
been a Judge, on several occasions got mad 
clear through toward some people who had 
coiisiderablv bothered him, and had made 
his married life miserable unto him. He 
was a muscular sort of a man, and was 
rather furious whenever too much crowded 
by his enemies. In his palmy days no 


well worthy 





17(3 


THE FIREMEN. 


ordinary mortal could stand before him in 
mortal combat, and it is averred of him that 
on one occasion he slew a thousand men 
with an ossificated clavmore which had once 

c/ 

done service as a masticator for a beast of 
burden. But the more enemies the Judge 
put hors de combat^ and the more he stove 
around, generally, the more he was tor¬ 
mented bv those who desired to circumvent 
and capture him. He had to resort to many 
expedients to keep his persecutors at bay, 
and it required all his ingenuity and strength 
to enable him to hold his own. He wasn’t, 
naturallv, a bad man, but thinofs «rot to such 
a pass with him that he had to use a good 
deal of force and fire to get at and keep 
square with the foes that multiplied at his 
front, rear and flanks. Finally, his wife 
turned against him, and married another 
man, which determined him to try a fire ex¬ 
pedient. He caught, somewhere in Tim- 


SKETCHES. 


177 


I 

Hath, three hundred young foxes ; though the 
historian doesn’t very clearly designate how 

I 

y he caught them. These foxes he strung 
together in pairs by tying together their 

I tails, and to each pair of tails a fire-brand 
was fastened, wdien the whole scampering 

1 three hundred foxes were let loose in the 

I 

surrounding fields and vineyards. This 
occurred at the time of early harvest, when 
much grain was in "shocks,” and which, 
being dry, took fire, almost at the vrord " Go ” 
to the foxes. Great destruction ensued, 
and the staft’ of life was very considerably 
shortened to the people. If it was not a 
burning shame to treat the people so, it must 
have been, at least, a singeing affair to the 
foxes, whose bushy tails probably suffered 
below the bands which bound them. Through 
the fields, of wheat, across the vineyards, 
amonsT the ofroves of olives, those four-footed 
and diminishing-tailed incendiaries went on 


12 







178 


THE FIREMEN. 


a dead run. At the start off, it is likely the 
quardriiped teams were not even, but the 
pairs soon learned to travel evenly together, 
and it was not long, probably, before they 

made the fire flv in streaks. The brands of 

«/ 

fire at the tails were constant incentives to 
hurry-up, and it may well be believed that 
there was a shocking time among those who 
saw their shocks of corn in flames. Whaf, 
finally, l)ecame of the foxes is not related; 
but the presumption is a fair one that they 
separated pretty soon after those tail bands 
burnt off. But of the fate of the Judsre him- 
self, the narrative leaves us in no doubt. 
Had he lived in these times, in our free, 
happy, proud America, he would have been 
indicted and tried as an incendiary, or for 
malicious mischief, and he might have "got fif¬ 
teen years.” As it was, he got overwhelmed, 
and both of his e^^es were put out, after which 
he was hitched to an endless round of duties 


SKETCHES. 


179 


in a meal-making mill, all of which failed to 
get the mad out of him. The last and crush¬ 
ing thing he did was to pull down a build¬ 
ing full of people, smashing them and him¬ 
self to death. 

[If fuller information of Judge Samson 
and his foxes is desired, the book may be 
procured of any agent of the American 
Bible Society.] 

The Holly System^ 

Many who have heard of the " Holly Sys¬ 
tem of Fire Protection ” know but little 
about its modus operandi; a sketch of it, 
therefore, may not be out of place here. 
The system is in use in quite a number of 
cities, and in several States. It consists of 
a series of powerful rotary forcing-pumps, 
worked by turbine wheels below, driven by 
water from a reservoir, or by a massive 
steam-engine, according as circumstances re-^ 



180 


THE FIREMEN. 


quire. The simplicity of the system is ap¬ 
parent, and experience has shown its economy 
and efficiency. Its leading feature consists 
in this, that, independently of what is called 
a "gravitation supply,” whether from an 
elevated reservoir or a stand-pipe on a lower 
plane, the mains of a city can be supplied 
with water in exact proportion to the de¬ 
mand ; and in case of a conflagration, a 
power of propulsion can be given far exceed¬ 
ing in steadiness and degree that attained by 
other means. By combining, with pumps 
admirably constructed and arranged, a hy¬ 
drostatic pressure regulator, the whole is 
placed under such perfect control that in 
twenty seconds the pressure can be increased 
from the ordinary measure, say sixty pounds 
to the square inch, to double that amount, 
or even triple, if required ; the special ad¬ 
vantages claimed for the " svstem ” are — 
(1.) Dispensing with all locomotive fire- 


SKETCHES. 


181 


engines. (2.) A gravitating supply not 

needed, nor even an artificial reservoir, 

< 

where a lake or river is at hand. (3.) The 
V ater is applied to a fire much more speedily 
than in any other way, or as soon as a hose 
can he attached to a hydrant. (4.) The 
water is thrown more rapidly, and from one- 
fourth to one-third greater distance than by 
a steam fire-engine ; and the stream is stead}^ 
and not exposed to irregularities and failures 
from the efiect of extreme cold or defective 
machines. (5.) Every building can have 
within it an effective extinguisher, and every 
private hydrant and water-cock becomes a 
fire-engine, effective in proportion to its 
size. (6.) The propulsion is so great that 
long hose can be used, even half a mile, 
with entire success. 


A Notable* Gathering. 

During the autumn of 1874 there assem¬ 
bled in the City of St. Louis, Mo., a large 



182 


THE FIREMEN. 


number of the lending representatives of 
fire departments from many cities and towns 
in nearly every State of the Union. The 
objects of the Convention were to compare 
notes, discuss the mei’its of fire-extinguish- 
ing apparatus, suggest ways and means to 
prevent and suppress conflagrations, and, 
collaterally, elevate the status of firemen. 
The Convention continued its sessions during 
several days, and very considerable progress 
was made. There was, as might have been 
expected, some diversity of opinion on sev¬ 
eral minor points, but the discussion em¬ 
braced a wide range, and the general con¬ 
clusions arrived at were such as to reflect 
credit on the Convention. The various sys¬ 
tems in use for suppressing fires were ex¬ 
plained, and their defects were pointed out, 
with strong recommendations that reforms 
should be adopted where needed. The im¬ 
pression prevailed, and opinions were so 
expressed, that in many of the larger cities 


SKETCHES. 


183 


the water supply is inadequate, in some 
instances because of the street water-mains 
being too small. The too common custom 
of imperfectly constructing buildings, mak¬ 
ing them dangerous in case of fire, was also 
strongly reprobated, and the passage of 
efiective building laws in the several States 
Avas unanimously recommended. The ob¬ 
jects of the Convention were certainly praise¬ 
worthy and important, the entire deliberations 
were harmonious and creditable, and the 
results were such that much good will doubt¬ 
less come therefrom to the whole country. 


Firemen^s Literature. 

The host of papers which have been started, 
professedly in the interest of firemen, have 
not flourished, but most of them have 
proved very weak and ephemeral affairs. The 
"Journals,” "Advocates,” "Owns,” "Trum¬ 
pets,” and numerous other " Organs ” which 






184 


THE FIREMEN. 


have heretofore flashed forth in various Amer¬ 
ican cities, have nearly all gone up in smoke, 
or ended in ashes. The difficulty in estab¬ 
lishing a periodical devoted exclusively to 
firemen seems to be a radical one, for no 
great amount of patronage has yet been 
obtainable in this country to sustain any 
form of mere clannism. Then, again, the 
usual manner of writinof for firemen, as if 
they were not men, has tended to produce 
disgust. In fact, the ” Mose ” and ” Syksey ” 
style of literature has contributed much to 
the ” killing ” of many would-be organs ; and 
the universal verdict has been, " Served them 
about right.” 

There have been but few instances where 
literature for firemen has taken the book 
form, and even in those cases the style of 
the matter was one-sided and exaggerated, or 
else too intensely local in its character. The 
editors and authors seem to have had the 


SKETCHES. 


185 


idea that firemen, as a class, are not like 
other men in their tastes for decent English 
and ordinary common sense. The delusion, 
however, has been a costly one, and it is 
probable that, in due time, observation and 
experience will do their perfect work in 
undeceiving those quill-drivers who indulge 
in that play-away style which produces a 
sort of reading which is not born of fire or 
good sense. 

Fire fro7n the Sky, 

On Sunday evening, October 8th, 1871, 
the village of Peshtigo, Michigan, was visited 
by fire, and history has never furnished a par¬ 
allel of its terrible destructiveness. Shortly 

Xt 

after the church-going people had returned 
from the evening service, an ominous sound 
was heard, like the distant roar of the sea, 
or of a coming storm. This increased in 
intensity, and soon the inhabitants became 



186 


THE FIREMEN. 


alarmed, and apprehensive of coming danger. 
Balls of fire were observed to fall like meteors 
in diiferent parts of the town, igniting what¬ 
ever they came in contact with. By this 
time the whole population were thoroughly 
aroused and alarmed, and caught up their 
children, and what valuables they could 
hastily seize, and began to flee for places of 
safety. Now a bright light appeared in the 
southwest horizon, gradually increasing till 
the heavens were aglow with light. But a 
few moments elapsed after this before a 
horrible tornado of fire came upon the people, 
and enveloped them in flame, smoke, burn¬ 
ing sand and cinders. Those who had not 

reached the river, or some other place of safety, 

• 

were sufibcated and burned to a cinder before 
they could advance a half dozen steps fur¬ 
ther. It seemed as if the love of God had 
been withdrawn from the place, and the fiery 
fiends of hell had been loosened to Avantonly 


SKETCHES. 


187 


vex and torment the people. It was the 
destruction of Sodom re-enacted. The char¬ 
acter of this fire was unlike any described 
before. It was a flame fanned by a hurri- 
cane, and accompanied with various electrical 
phenomena. Those who survived the terri¬ 
ble ordeal said that they received electrical 

shocks, wdiile they saw electrical flames flash 

% 

in the air and dance over the surface of the 
earth around them. But the fury of the 
flash was past in half an hour, though the 
Are continued to burn more or less fiercely 
durincr the whole ni^ht. The full effects of 
the storm were not apparent until daylight 
returned, and the survivors could come forth 

from their retreats. A party of one hundred 

• 

and fifty fortunately ran together upon a low 
meadow, and all were saved. A family of 
five persons saved themselves by jumping 
into a shallow well; another family of the 
same number were all suffocated by a like 


188 


THE FIKEMEN. 


resort. A large number threw themselves 
into a mill-pond, and sustained themselves 
by clinging to the boom and floating logs, 
at the same time continually wetting the 
head to prevent it from roasting. Many 
children, some only one month old, were in 
the water the whole night, and yet survived. 
Some who were too ill to walk were taken 
from their beds and thrown into the water. 
A large number were drowned, some by 
being trampled upon or thrown oflT from their 
feet by the cattle and horses that, maddened 
by the fire, rushed into the water. The tor¬ 
nado came from the southwest, and swept 
over a track of country eight or ten miles in 
width, and of equal length. The timber, in 
its course, was felled by the wind and 
burned ])y the fire, and every vestige of fence 
and building were swept away. Sometimes, 
the wind struck the earth with such force 
that the small undergrowth was torn up and 


SKETCHES. 


189 


burled into winrows, while at other times it 
would skip aw'ay from the earth. The whole 
population of Peshtigo Village and of the 
farm lands in its vicinity was two thousand, 
and fully one-third of those perished on that 
fearful night. On the east shore of the bay 
the loss of life was as great as at Peshtigo, 
making the entire loss of life reach the fear¬ 
fully large number of twelve hundred. 

JL Novel Contrivance, 

One of the greatest obstacles that fire de- 
partments have had to contend against in 
extinguishing fires in large mercantile houses 
has been iron shutters, which obstinately 

refuse to be opened from the outside, even 

• 

with the aid of axes and sledge-hammers. 
But it would seem that there is hardly a 
limit to inventive genius ; for an iron shutter 
has been invented which perfectly answers 
all the recpiirements of a fire-proof protection 



190 


THE FIREMEN. 


to a window, and yet may be readily opened 
by means of a stream of water from a hose 
nozzle. The fastening attachment to the 
shutter consists of an iron bar catching in a 
latch in the usual way, but having a fan-like 
trigger on the outside, which, on being acted 
upon by a stream of water, loosens the latch 
and lets the bar fall at one end. In falling 
it traverses an inclined plane, and throws the 
shutter wide open. 

St €20 hy Step. 

No branch of a fire department is more 
important to the service than the ladder 
adjunct; for no matter how freely water 
may run, it can do but little good in quench¬ 
ing fires unless it be seasonably and directly 
applied. Even where the most powerful 
engines are in service, the use of ladders is 
necessary to aid in reaching the Mansards 
and upper stories of the high buildings, which 



SKETCHES. 


191 


have of late years been put up. In fact 
there can hardly be an effective department 
without ladders, and efficient men to handle 
them; for to put up a single or double- 
" spliced ” requires a plenty of trained muscle 
and the best of judgment. It is a continual 
marvel to outsiders to observe hpw quickly, 
and seemingly how easily, the American 
ladder-men elevate their heavy 80 or 100- 
footers. If they were not active, strong, 
experienced and intelligent they couldn’t do 
such rearing feats. The Hook and Ladder- 
men are the Sappers and Miners of the fire 
departments, and they are as necessary as in 
an army. Without them the "devouring 
element” would produce many more sur¬ 
prises and oftener steal a march, which 
would require harder lighting along more 
extended lines. But, as yet, the ladder sys¬ 
tem is not perfect, and there is still room 
for improvement in the construction of 


192 


THE FIREMEN. 


ladders, for only a few combine the essential 
requisites of length, strength and lightness. 
Thouffh rather cumbersome, the Skinner 
truck and ladder, probably, constitutes one 
of the best things yet devised with which to 
take step by step upwards. 

Fire and Water-proof Fabrics. 

There have been manufactured a few flex¬ 
ible articles, such as handkerchiefs and 
gloves, which are perfectly fire-proof, made 
of a laminated mineral substance, known as 
Asbestos. But the quantity of that material 
is too small to furnish other than a few ar¬ 
ticles of novelty; to wash such goods it is 
only necessary to put them into the fire, and 
there let them remain until the dirt burns off. 
For the purpose of making cotton cloth 
nearly incombustible, it is only necessary to 
mix with the starch which enters into the 
composition of the fabric, half its weight of 



SKETCHES. 


193 


carbonate of lime, otherwise known as Span¬ 
ish chalk. Another process is to expose 
cloth for a time to the vapor of burning sul¬ 
phur, making it so nearly fire-proof that 
when held over a spirit lamp it will not in 
inflame, but merely become charred and 
brittle. It is*claimed for both these processes 
that they effectually accomplish their pur¬ 
pose, without in any way injuring either the 
quality or appearance of the goods. The 
incombustible fabric has, of course, an im¬ 
portant advantage in the safety which it 
affords to the wearer. It has also been found 
that cotton or linen fabrics may be made 
water-proof b}" passing them rapidly through 
a sulphuric acid bath, and then through very 
cold water, after which they must be thorough¬ 
ly w^ashed. They should remain in contact 
with the acid not longer than from ten seconds 
to two minutes, according to the nature of 
the 2 foods. The acid has the effect of form- 

ino‘a varnish-like matter, which not onlyren- 
o 


194 


THE FIREMEN. 


ders the fabric water-proof but adds materially 
to its strength, the process being made still 
moreeffectual by hot pressing and calendering. 

Wood is made non-combustible if soaked 
for twenty-four hours in a solution of one 
part of silicate of potassa in three parts 
of pure water, and after being dried for 
several days, it is again soaked in this 
liquid, and again dried ; then painted with 
a mixture of one part of cement and four 
parts of the liquid described. Three such 
coats of paint are to be put on, each being 
thoroughly dried. The paint should not be 
prepared in large quantities at once, as it 
soon becomes dry and hard. Wood thus 
treated is not only incombustible, but will 
not decay underground. 

The FiremerCs Lot and Monument at 
Greemoood. 

The New York City Fire Department has 
a very finely located lot on Tulip Hill, in 



SKETCHES. 


195 


Greenwood Cemetery, for the interment and 
commeration of those members of the depart¬ 
ment who loose their lives while in the dis¬ 
charge of their unselfish and patriotic duty. 
The monument is a pyramidal column of 
marble, resting on a massive pedestal of the 
same material, with a granite base, and the 
figure of a fireman on its summit is well ex¬ 
ecuted. One arm surrounds and supports 
a child, just rescued from the flame which 
seems still to pursue it. His right holds a 
trumpet. The attitude is spirited, and the 
general effect very good. Upon four of the 
pilasters of the pedestal, and upon its upper 
surface appear various representations in 
relief, or in full, of implements and articles 
appertaining to the fireman’s calling. His 
swinging engine lantern, his trumpet and 
cap, his hose and hydrant, the hook and 
ladder, may all be seen in. the sculpture. 
The workmanship of the structure is ad¬ 
mirable, its position is commanding and 


196 


THE FIKEMEN. 


beautiful. From the loftiest height of beau¬ 
tiful grounds the structure rises, severe in 
beauty and grand in proportions. It is em¬ 
blematical of the men and their works, being 
a perpetual remembrance of them and of 
their inappreciable services, and it will, pro¬ 
bably, stand for ages, the fit expression of 
gratitude and of their gloiy. The monument 
is surrounded by a neat and appropriate iron 
railing. On each side of the gate or entrance 
to the plot is a hydrant, and on the top of 
the railing, at different points, are lamps. In 
happy unison with the immediate scene, and 
with thoughts it naturally suggests, may be 
seen through the leafy openings several 
churches in the distance. On the tablet at 
the base of the column, and facing a lakelet 
is the following inscription : 

THE FIRE DEPARTMENT 

OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK 
HAVE CAUSED 

This Monument to be erected, 

IN MEMORY OF 

THEIR COMPANIONS WHO PERISHED 
IN DISCHARGE OF THEIR DUTY, 

A. D., 1848. 


SKETCHES. 


197 


Send along the Water. 

Somebody has remarked that American 
firemen are''great on reels,” in allusion to 
the fact that many of the hose carriages are 
the finest specimens of fire-apparatus in the 
world. Nowhere else do they elaborate on 
the make-up, nor so profusely ornament 
their hose carriages, as in the United States. 
These " spools ” often vie in beauty with the 
finest parlor furniture, sometimes being em¬ 
blazoned all over with silver, gold, and 
choice artistic gems. No wonder that such 
apparatus are the pride of the possessors, for 
things of beauty are joys forever, even if 
they are hose carts. Within a few years the 
hose carriages have also been much improved 
as respects to lightness, strength, gearing, 
and general utility, so that now a thousand 
feet of hose may be carried with more ease 
and celerity than one-quarter of the quantity 


198 


THE FIREMEN. 


was coiive^^ed on the old " tenders,” which 
were formerly hitched on the tire engines. 
Except in the larger cities, where the hose car¬ 
riages are drawn by horses, the hosemen haul 
the carriages themselves, and they usually 
make such good time that the engines do 
not have to wait, and it is seldom necessary 
to notify the pipe-men to "look out for your 
water,” for they are always ready. The 
better classes of hose carriages and hose men 
are so nearly perfect for the purposes they 
serve, as to leave but little to be desired. 


Fountains. 

The remains of the water works of ancient 
Rome, as described by travellers, excite 
wonder. Its nine great aqueducts had a 
total length of 255 miles, and a capacity of 
daily discharge equal to fifty million cubic 
feet, yet the water was not conveyed at such 
height as to produce fountains of extraor- 



SKETCHES. 


199 


dinary altitude. The most remarkable orna¬ 
mental fountains are of modern construction. 
At Versailles, France, jet cTeaii rises to the 
height of 90 feet, and another at St. Cloud to 
160 feet. The Peterkoff fountain in Pussia 
is 120 feet, and the Chatsworth in England 
is said to be 267 feet high. The altitude of 
the Chatsworth*reservoir being only 381 feet, 
the statement of tlie height of its water jet 
is too great, unless the water acquires a veloc¬ 
ity near that due to its whole descent before 
reaching the discharging orifice. It is gene¬ 
rally supposed that the law illustrated by the 
inverted siphon is applicable to fountains, and 
that they would rise to the level of their respec¬ 
tive reservoirs, were they not impeded by fric¬ 
tion at the orifice and through the air, and, in 
the case of vertical jets, by the weight of the 
descending water. Some experiments seem 
to indicate that the height of jets rising from 
water under pressure, but almost motionless, 


200 


THE FIREMEN. 


are to each other as the square roots of the 
heights of their reservoirs. Taking an ex¬ 
periment in which a reservoir 133.4 feet high 
gave a jet of 100 feet as the standard, the 
Chats worth fountain would have an altitude 
of 170 feet instead of 267 feet, while that 
from a reservoir 900 feet high would be 261 
feet. In nearly all American cities, where 
water has been introduced from localities 
having higher levels, are fountains, which, at 
times, are allowed to ”play away’^ for show 
and display. They certainly constitute very 
pretty sights while the sunbeams blend wdth 
them, presenting miniature rainbows. But 
fountains are w'asteful affairs, and most Water 
Boards frown when requested to tap their 
water pipes for mere show. 


A. Puzzled Community, 

One summer evening, the people of Wal¬ 
tham, Mass., were startled with the cry that 



1 


sketciip:s. 


201 


the Orthodox Church was on fire. The alarm 
was at once sounded, and a large crowd re¬ 
paired to the spot, where, apparently, a vol¬ 
ume of smoke was seen issuing from the 
tower of the church, above the bell deck. 
To all appearances the flames were just ready 
to burst forth, and the engines were in readi¬ 
ness to throw their streams upon it, when 
the people Avere still more astounded by the 
announcement that the Methodist Church 
was also on fire, and this too in the tower 
above the bell deck. Those who were ex¬ 
perienced in fire matters were amazed to 
account for the origin of two fires simulta¬ 
neously, both in corresponding parts of the- 
church, and the excitement among the peo¬ 
ple who witnessed the scene was increasing, 
when they were almost horror-struck to per¬ 
ceive that the Baptist Church was in the same 
condition, though the smoke appeared to be 
more dense. All this occurred within a few 


202 


thf: firemen. 


seconds, and as it seemed that the flames 
must first burst from the tower of the Baptist 
Church, the firemen directed their attention 
to that edifice, and the ladders had already 
been placed in position, when, just as the 
steamer was about to play, the chief engineer 
concluded that there was no fire on the prem¬ 
ises. For three-quarters of an hour after 
the black volume continued to pour forth, 
when just before dark it ceased, in about as 
mysterious a manner as it commenced. This 
singular phenomena was the absorbing topic 
of interest throughout the evening, and no 
one could account for it. 


Length, Weight, Measure, 

The French standard of length is the 
metre, which is one ten millionth of the 
distance from the equator to the pple ; it is 
equal to 39.37079 inches, or very nearly 
3,281 English feet. One mile contains 5,280 



SKETCHES. 


203 


I 

feet, or 1,760 yards. The acre contains 
43,560 square feet. One mile square con¬ 
tains 640 acres. The circumference of a 
circle is equal to the diameter multiplied by 
3.1416« The area of a circle is equal to the 
square of the diameter multiplied by 0.7854. 
The United States standard gallon contains 
231 cubic inches, the United States standard 
bushel contains 2,150.42 cubic inches. A 
cubic foot of water weighs 62.5 lbs.; a foot 
of hard wood, green, 62 lbs., air-dried, 46 
lbs., kiln-dried, 40 lbs. ; a foot of soft wood, 

green, weighs 53 lbs., air-dried, 30 lbs., kiln- 

• 

dried, 28 lbs. A cubic foot of cast iron 
w^eighs 450 lbs. ; of wrought iron, 480 lbs. ; 
coke, 50 to 65 lbs. ; coal, 75 to 95 lbs. ; 
sandstone, 140 lbs.; granite, 180 lbs.; brick¬ 
work, 95 lbs.; gold, l,040^1bs. No. 1 iron 
is 5-16 inch thick ; No. 3 is 9-32 scant; No. 4 
is 1-4 inch ; No. 5 is 7-32; and No. 7 is 3-16 
inch thick. 


204 


THE FIREMEN. 


The Whirligig Nozzle, 

A considerable amount of inventive genius 
has been directed towards perfecting fire ex¬ 
tinguishing apparatus, and adding to de¬ 
partment fixtures; the result being quite a 
number and variety of "patents,” some of 
which are meritorious, while others are mere¬ 
ly specimens of embodied nonsense. There 
are hose-couplings, nozzles, ladder and hose- 
trucks, fire-escapes, " unburstable ” hose, 
double back-acting ladders, smoke protectors, 
and various jimcrack devices, which have 
little or no utility, and they tend not a whit 
to the proper equipment of firemen. But 
there is no doubt that some of the novel me¬ 
chanical contrivances are of utility to fire 
departments, anjong which may be the 
Spherical Water Distributor. It consists of 
a nozzle closed at the end, with two brass 
tubes curved like a letter S, open at each 


SKETCHES. 


205 


end, hung by the centres at the sides of the 
nozzle. When the water is let on it is forced 
through these tubes, and its retro-active pres¬ 
sure drives them around backward, in op¬ 
posite directions, at a great speed, the water 
flying to a considerable distance from their 
outlets. At the same time, beside the revolu¬ 
tion on their own centres, they are so 
arranged as to mutually revolve about the 
nozzle, thus throwing the water in every 
possible direction. In case of a fire in a 
close room, for instance, which could not 
otherwise be got at, a hole can be cut through 
the floor above, or the walls, the distributor 
inserted, and in a moment water is thrown 
upon everj^ part of the room. 

Insurance Brigades. 

In nearly all the larger American cities 
are organizations of men, with appropriate 
apparatus, whose duty it is to attend fires. 



206 


THE FIREMEN. 


and, so far as possible, protect goods from 
damage by water, or, in cases of necessity, 
to remove them from the burning buildings. 
These organizations are known as Insurance 
or Protective Brigades, being employed and 
paid by the local underwriters. The brig¬ 
ades consist of from ten to twenty men, duly 
officered, the apparatus. being fleet horses 
and light vehicles, with large quantities of 
canvas and rubber covers, which are imper¬ 
vious to water, together with sponges, mops, 
brooms, pails and dippers. Whenever an 
alarm of fire is sounded, awav ffo the mem- 
bers speedily to the designated spot, and if 
the fire be in an upper story of a building, 
with a probability of being confined thereto 
by the firemen, the furniture in the lower 
stories is immediately placed by the brigade 
men in the centre of the rooms, and snugly 
covered with the water-proofs; the goods 
and stocks are also removed from the shelves 


SKETCHES. 207 

and heaped upon the counters, where they 
are also carefully covered, with impervious 
fabric. The manner of placing the covers 
over the articles to be protected is judi¬ 
cious, sometimes little depressions be¬ 
ing improvised in the covering, so as to 
catch and retain the water which trickles 
from the rooms above. With dippers the 
water is removed as fast as it collects, 
and the flooring is kept comparatively free 
from water with the brooms and mops, and 
thus, though thousands of gallons of water 
may be thrown into the upper rooms, but 
little of it gets past the intervening brigade 
men to the rooms below. If " worse comes 
to worst,” and the whole building is likely 
to submit to the embrace of the ash-maker, 
then the brigade men hustle ouf things pretty 
lively, and convey them to safe quarters. 
These protective brigades, though indepen¬ 
dent of the fire companies, work systemat- 


208 


THE FIREMEN. 


ically and harmoniously with them, hundreds 
of thousands of dollars’ worth of valuables 
being thereby saved, annually, from damage 
by water or destruction by tire ; and though 
they may be considered expensive adjuncts 
to fire departments, they are effective, saving 
to the insurance companies a goodly per 
cent, of "risks” in " extra salvage.” The 
spread indulged in, sometimes, by the brig¬ 
ades is enormous, the goods in the larger 
warehouses requiring several hundred yards 
of canvas and covers for their protection. 

A Fuss with the Lights. 

In putting down the abutments of the 
bridge across the Mississippi River, at St. 
Louis, it was found that there was diflicultv 
in extinguishing flame in an atmosphere of 
such density as exists at a depth of 80 feet, 
or more, and the burning of oil lamps had 
to 1)0 discarded by the workmen. The cloth- 



SKETCHES. 


209 


iiig of two of the men having taken fire from 
I contact with, some of the hand lamps or 
candles used in the caisson, it was found 
exceedingly difficult to extinguish the flames. 
One of the men was severely burned, al¬ 
though his garments were almost entirely 
woollen. It was deemed unsafe to risk the 
danger of having the clothing of the men 
saturated with oil from the accidental break¬ 
ing of a lamp, which might, by the same 
casualty, ignite their garments and thus en- 
danorer their lives. The flame of a candle 
would immediately return to the wick after 
beinsr blown out with the breath. At the 
depth of 108 1-2 feet below the surface of 
the river was blown out the flame of one 
candle thirteen consecutive times in the 
course of half a minute, and each time, ex¬ 
cepting the last, it returned to its wick. 
Almost as long as a small portion of the 
wick remained incandescent, the flame would 


210 


THE FIKEMEN. 


return, and when the glowing particle of 
two separate candles failed to possess suf¬ 
ficient heat to restore the flame to either, it 
would reappear at once by placing the lumi¬ 
nous portions of the two wicks in contact. 

The Chemical Engine, 

In another part of this volume reference 
is made to machines charged with carbonic 
acid gas for extinguishing fires. Those lit¬ 
tle squizzlers should not, however, be con¬ 
founded with the large self-acting chemical 
engines which have been introduced into 
many American cities. 

The large carbonic power-engine costs 
about $2,000, is simple in its construction, 
safe, and always ready for instant use. It 
is substantially made, with two polished 
copper tanks, or "generators,” which are 
tested to 350 lbs. hydrostatic pressure to 
the square inch, and is furnished with a 



SKETCHES. 


211 


double acting force-pump. The engine 
forces a stream through any length of hose, 
at any height, that is just as powerful as 
though thrown through a single length from 
the ground. This is a feature that no water 
engine possesses. The most powerful steam¬ 
er throws a comparatively feeble stream 
when the hose is led to the top of a lofty 
building. This is owing partly to the fric¬ 
tion in the hose, the weight of water, and 
most of all to the fact that all the propelling 
force is behind the water at the steamer. 
With the chemical engine any pressure can 
be obtained, and the propelling force goes 
out with the stream, thus giving nearly the 
same pressure at the nozzle as at the engine. 
The pressure is kept up in the tanks or 
generators by means of the chemicals em¬ 
ployed, and can be regulated by merely 
turniug a valve. 

The claims for superiority of the engine 


212 


THE riRE3IEN. 


are that it dispenses with complex machin¬ 
ery, experienced engineers, reservoirs, and 
steam. Carbonic acid gas is both the work¬ 
ing and extinguishing agent: no steam to be 
raised, no fire to be kindled, no hose to be 
laid, and no large company to be mustered. 
The chemicals are kept in place, and the gas 
generated the instant wanted. Mere water 
inadequately applied feeds the fire, but car¬ 
bonic acid gas never. Bulk for bulk, it is 
thirty times as effective as water, the sev¬ 
enty gallons of the two small cylinders 
being equal to twenty-one hundred gallons 
of water. Besides, it uses the only agent 
that will extinguish burning tar, oil, and 
other combustible fluids and vapea’s. One 
cylinder can be re-charged while the other 
is working, thus keeping up a continuous 
stream. Five or six men can draw it and 
manage it. Its small dimensions require but 
a small area either for work or storage. 


SKETCHES. 


213 


One hundred feet or more of its light pliant 
I hose can be carried on a man’s arm up any 
. number of stairs inside a building, or, if fire 
forbids, up a ladder outside. It smothers, 
but does not deluge ; the modicum of water 
used to give momentum to the gas is soon 
evaporated by the heat, doing little or no 
damage to what is below. It costs only 

I about half as much as a-first-class hand 

! 

[ engine, and about one-fourth as much as a 

f. 

I steam engine with their necessary appen- 
j dages, and the chemicals for each charge 

I 

i cost less than two dollars. 

In reports of fires, it is often found that 
the water used to extinguish them has occa¬ 
sioned more damage to stock than the 
flames. And it is also a notable fact that 
fires frequently reappear after steamers have 
been playing for hours upon the debris, 
owing to ignition caused by sparks falling 
upon the charred and splintered wood-work. 





214 


THE FIREMEN. 


Now, by the employment of carbonic acid 
gas these evils are overcome. In the first 
place it is the gas that extinguishes the fire, 
by absorbing the oxygen upon which it 
feeds, the water being used simply as a 
means of conveyance, thus preventing the 
useless dissemination of the gas before it 
reaches the flames. The flames once de¬ 
prived of oxygen, become extinct. 

The philosophy of the operation consists 
in the fact that carbonic acid gas is heavier 
than the atmosphere. Fire is combustion 
by means of oxygen, and cannot burn a 
second without it. The contents of the 
extinguisher — a solution in water of a gas 
much denser than air ~ shuts oflf the supply 
of oxygen, and smothers the fire. Fire 
goes out instantly in an atmosphere con¬ 
taining about ten per cent, of carbonic acid 
gas. 



SKETCHES. 


215 


JBird’s Discovery, and his Little Squirt» 

In Eastern Massachusetts there resides a 
gentleman named Bird, who thinks he has 
a special mission to perform in the world of 
lesser conflagrations. Having made the re¬ 
markable discovery that a small fire does 
not require a large quantity of water to 
quench it, he is sanguine in the opinion that 
small force-pumps are handy and useful 
things to have around, wherever miniature 
conflagrations are liable to occur. So won¬ 
derful seems the discovery to him, and so 
strong is his faith in the little pumps, that 
he has written more than a score of commu¬ 
nications for the newspapers in blowing his 
horn ; and he has, of course, obtained the 
endorsement of his friends for his pet notion, 
and recommendations for his petit machines. 
And, while nobody doubts the efficacy of 
his plan for putting out sparks, yet there are 


216 


THE FIKEMEN. 


some people who can but smile at the 
gentleman’s enthusiasm in behalf of his 
hobby. 

The idea of having fires extinguished be¬ 
fore they get under much headway, how^ever, 
is a good one, and Mr. Bird may be worthy 
of immortality for his brilliant conception, 
while his little squirts may deserve to go to 
posterity along the coming ages as very val¬ 
uable extinguishers. Whv did lie not, while 
he was about it, evolve from his brain the 
greater fact that it would be better still 
not to have fires break out at all, and thus 
do away with the necessity for any fire 
apparatus ? 

But the truth is, the fires which trouble 
people in this world are those which get well 
a-going, not thoselittle " catches ” which may 
be pinched out. The mass of people do not, 
nor will they have little force-pump on the 
brain. Petty fires and pocket extinguishers 


SKETCHES. 


217 


can never attract more than local attention; 
though it were well that Mr. Bird, and men 
of his stamp, should receive a due mead of 
l^raise for good intentions. 

Lighten-up on the Hose.^* 

A very important adjunct to fire apparatus 
is proper suction and leading hose for the 
conveyance of water from reservoirs, hy¬ 
drants, and engines. Until within a few 
years, leather was the material exclusively 
used in the manufacture of leading hose, the 
best quality of the article being required to 
produce hose to withstand the pressure of 
high heads of water and the impulsive spurts - 
of the fire-engines. The new leather hose 
from the best makers serves well, but it 
needs care in keeping it oiled, and being 
properly dried after every use. After long 
use, or improper care, leather loses its tenac¬ 
ity of fibre, and a great deal of delay and 



218 


THE FIREMEN. 


loss at fires occur by reason of the untimely 
bursting of rotten leather hose. The stan- 
dard adopted by the officials of the best fire 
departments, is pure oak-tanned Baltimore 
or Philadelphia leather, warranted such, and 
known as ” overweight,” the average weight 
of which is not less than twenty-two pounds 
to the side, none being used for ” standard ” 
which weighs less than twenty pounds to the 
side. The seam is double riveted, with twen¬ 
ty-two copper rivets, of No. 8 wire, to the 
running foot, the splices being made with 
thirteen rivets of size No. 7 wire. The 
hose, when finished with loops and rings, 
• weighs sixty-four pounds each fifty feet, 
exclusive of the couplings, and is guaranteed 
to stand a pressure of not less than two 
hundred pounds to the square inch. It is 
thus apparent that from the ox-gut hose 
of the Ancients to the ox-hide hose of the 
Moderns there was a pretty long step of 


SKETCHES. 


219 


improvement, and the water may now be let 
on in earnest. 

There are also several other kinds of hose, 
covered by one or more ” patents,” which 
are manufactured of linen, cotton, hemp and 
rubber, separately or in combination. Some 
of these hose are of great strength and 
durability, one or two kinds being even 
superior, in some respects, to the leathern 
article; and it is not improbable that the 
latter will be generally superseded when 
more improvements shall have been made 
in the textile and resinous materials with 
which the " patents ” are composed. 

The following are thespecifications and* 
claims ” for the latest invention in the hose 
line : it is constructed of two distinct hose, 
one within the other, the inside one being 
lined with rubber, and sufficiently strong to 
stand the pressure of steam fire-engines. 
The outer one, or jacket, is for the purpose 


220 


THE FIREMEN. 


of protecting the hose from damage or street 
wear, at the same time doubling its strength. 
Its weight is forty-six pounds to each fifty 
feet, including couplings. It can be repaired 
without the introduction of metallic sleeves, 
and in a manner like the original fabric, and 
of equal strength. It is durable, for the rea¬ 
son that a layer of pure gum, unvulcanized, 
is interposed between the hose and the vul¬ 
canized lining, while in rubber hose the 
presence of acid in the sulphur used for vul¬ 
canizing being a gradual, sure, and steady 
cause of decay to the cotton diick of which 
the rubber hose is composed; so that the 
only condition to secure durability to the 
hose is to hang it up in a dry place, either 
by its whole length or by the middle, allow¬ 
ing the couplings to hang down, or by any 
mode of laying it out in single thickness. 
Few persons, when considering the merits 
of a cotton hose coated with rubber on one 


SKETCHES. 


221 


side only, realize the fact that rubber hose 
is made of cotton duck, coated on both sides 
with a composition partially of rubber, cut 
into strips for the purpose of winding it 
spirally into a tube, and submitted to a 
heat of nearly 300 degrees to vulcanize it. 
Another poinf is the patent coupling, holding 
the hose in such a manner that it is impos¬ 
sible for water to reach the outer fabric from 
its inside. Still another, is the rubber ring 
in the end of the coupling, forming a cushion 
between the hose and the coupling, to pre¬ 
vent wear or breaking of the hose at that 
point. In applying the coupling, the hose 
is placed inside the tail of the coupling, and 
the clear diameter is two and one-half inches, 
while with other couplings the hose is placed 
outside of the tail-piece ; and in order to have 
the hose go over a tail-piece which has a 
two and one-half inch hole in it, the hose 
requires to be made larger. Therefore, to 


222 


THE FIREMEN. 


avoid doing so the coupling is reduced, and 
nearly all couplings measure but two and 
three-eighth inch openings. 

Substitutes for Water, 

From the earliest ages water has been 
considered as the great means provided b}^ 
nature to act as the antagonist to fire. 
Throwing water from buckets and other 
vessels on burning buildings, to extinguish 
the fire, is ancient; but modern improve¬ 
ments in the method of applying, and thereby 
rendering it more efiicient, are numerous. 
Attempts have been, made at various times 
to increase the efficiency of water when 
used in extinguishing fire, by mixing or dis¬ 
solving some chemical substances with it; 
but however well such a proceeding may 
have turned out when tried on a small scale 
as an experiment, say, for example, in the 
laboratory of a chemist, a few moments’ 



SKETCHES. 


223 


reflection shows that it would be both costly 
and inadmissible in practice. The employ¬ 
ment of material which would render what¬ 
ever it was applied to incombustible, also 
dates from a remote period. Archelaus, 
a general of Mithridates, during one of the 
wars with the Romans, caused the wooden 

4 

towers used in the battle to be washed over 
with a solution of alum, by which means 
all the attempts of his opponents to set the 
wood on fire were rendered abortive. The 
idea of extinguishing fires ” chemically,” 
seems to have gained strength of late years ; 
for, from time to time, accounts are found 
of some contrivance for using "ammonia,” 
"carbonic acid gas,” etc., or else patents 
obtained for its application, or that of some 
peculiar combination of " chemicals.” There 
can be no doubt that in theory the extin¬ 
guishing of fire by some such arrangement 
or mode of treatment is practicable; and 


224 


THE FIREMEN. 


that pretty little experiments in the labor¬ 
atory of the chemist give satisfactory results 
and proofs of all that can be advanced in its 
favor; but practice at a real fire, that stern 
experimentum crucis,’^ which overthrows so 
many pretty theories, soon dissipates the 
fond idea of those who have devoted their 
time and money introducing it, and gives 
still stronger proof of the inapplicability of 
such plans to the present circumstances of 
fires, buildings, etc., as could not fail to be 
seen by them had they attended a thorough 
fire, and paid attention to all the circum¬ 
stances connected therewith. 


FiremerCs Charitable Associations, 
These institutions are formed, and some¬ 
times incorporated by State authority, in 
many of the fire departments throughout the 
United States, for the purpose of affording 
relief to such of their members as ma}^ receive 



SKETCHES. 


225 


, injury while performing their duties as fire¬ 
men. Any member of a department having 
such an association, who enrolls his name in 
the list of the association and pays a nominal 
specified fee, receives assistance during the 

year his certificate is dated; his physician, 

« 

medicine, and other necessary bills are paid, 
and a sum is allowed him for lost time during 
inability or sickness, not exceeding a spec- 
' ified amount, which is usually liberal. This 
assistance is continued during the whole time 
of such inability or sickness. Many of the 
associations receive generous donations from 
the public, and in some instances the amount 
of funds on hand for benevolent purposes is 
quite large. No feature of a fire department 
is more worthy of commendation than a 
properly conducted and a well endowed char¬ 
itable association. After the great fire in 
Boston, 1872, more than $50,000 is said to 
have been disbursed by the association to 


15 





226 


THE FIREMEN. 


injured firemen, and to the families of such 
as had been killed. 


Burned at Sea!” 

Many vessels are destroyed by fire, and 
the history of the American naval and mer¬ 
cantile marine is full of those sad occur¬ 
rences. Ships, propelled by sails and steam, 

.. leave ports every month which never make 
. other harbors, because of getting burned oiF 
■ the lakes, rivers and oceans which they 
attempt to pass. The full horror of such 
catastrophes can never be realized except by 
those who have experienced the awful perils ; 
and the bare contemplation of such scenes 
ivere enough to produce dismay to the brav¬ 
est hearts. " The ship is on fire ! ” Did any¬ 
thing more terrible ever fall upon mortal 
ear? Truly the dangers of the deep are 
many, the worst being that of fire. 

With all the safeguards and appliances for 




SKETCHES. 


227 


extinguishing fires on shipboard, the report 
often comes, ” Burned at sea ! ” Can it he pos¬ 
sible that human ingenuitv for devisino: 
means of safety to ships from fire has reached 
its limit? If not, the number of such disas¬ 
ters should diminish. With plenty of water 
alwaj'S at hand, and the much-vaunted car¬ 
bonic gas, it would seem that they might 
and should be made available to the suppres¬ 
sion of the fires arising from spontaneous 
combustion or other causes. 

Attempts to convey soft coal from England 
to San Francisco have resulted in the destruc¬ 
tion of the carrying vessels and cargoes, by 
reason of evolved gas taking fire. The ap¬ 
plication of a little science to such coal would 
"fix” its gas, and make it less hazardous to 
transport. Who will discover and present 
the proper precautions to insure safety 
agrainst fires at sea ? 

O 


228 


THE FIREMEN. 


Instruction and DrilL 

One of the features of the Metropolitan 
fire departments consists of classes for the 
instruction of the officers in their various 
duties. The first-class is composed of the 
engineers and officers; the second-class is 
composed of company commanders; the 
third-class is composed of officers not com¬ 
manding companies; and the several classes 
meet weekly for instruction and drill. In 
most cases the meetings are steadily and 
profitably maintained. The forms of in¬ 
struction embrace a regular course of 
mechanics, hydraulics, the construction of 
steam fire-engines and fire apparatus, the 
management of fires, and collateral subjects 
bearing upon the duties of the officers, and 
great improvement is obtained in the prac¬ 
tical working of the force. 

Length of years of fire service, coupled 



SKETCHES. 


229 


with a certain amount of personal geniality 
or shrewdness, has generally been consider¬ 
ed an all-sufficient title for command in many 
fire departments, and, given these, a man’s 
other qualifications or attainments have not 
been deemed a matter of importance; so 
that if a man had experience in using fire 
apparatus, it has been considered unnecessary 
for him to understand the construction of it, 
or to know familiarly and well the laws which 
govern the machinery, as well as the element 
which it employs against that other "element” 
which it is constructed to subvert. Such 
schools of instruction should be regarded as 
essential; • and if firemen would elevate their 

organization to the dignity which some are 

• 

disposed to claim for it, they ought not 
neglect a matter so obviously to their advan¬ 
tage, and to the advantage of the property 
they guard. No claim for toleration on the 
score of experience alone should stand for a 


230 


THE FIREMEN. 


moment in the light of this age of intelligent 
investigation; experience is valuable, but 
education is as valuable. 


The Burning of Moscow, 

Sir Archibald Allison, in his history of the 
burning of Moscow, indulges in some pretty 
fine descriptive writing. From his account, 
it appears that it was chiefly during the dark 
nights of the 18th and 19th of September, 
1812, that the conflagration attained its 
greatest violence. At that time the whole 
city was wrapped in flames, and volumes of 
fire of various colors ascended to the heavens 
in many places, dilfusing a prodigious light 
on all sides, and attended by an intolerable 
heat. These balloons of flame were accom¬ 
panied in their ascent by a frightful hissing 
noise and loud explosions, the effect of the 
vast stores of oil, rosin, tar, spirits, and 
other combustible materials with which the 




SKETCHES. 


231 


shops were filled. Large pieces of painted 
canvas, unrolled from the outside of the 
buildings by the violence of the heat, floated 
on fire in the atmosphere, and sent down on 
all sides a flaming shower, 'which spread the 
conflagration in quarters even the most re¬ 
moved from where it originated. The wind, 
naturally high, was raised by the sudden 
rarefaction of the air produced by the heat, 
to a perfect hurricane. The howling of the 
tempest drowned even the'roar of the con¬ 
flagration ; the whole heavens were filled 
with the whirl of the volumes of smoke and 
flame which rose on all sides, and made mid¬ 
night as bright as day ; while even the brav¬ 
est hearts, subdued by the sublimity of the 
scene, and the feeling of human impotence 
in the midst of such elemental strife, sank 
and trembled in silence. The flames, fanned 
by the tempestuous gale, advanced with 
frightful rapidity, devouring alike in their 


232 


THE FIREMEN. 


course the palaces of the great, the temples 
of religion, and the cottages of the poor. 
For thirty-six hours the conflagration contin¬ 
ued at its height, and during that time above 
nine-tenths of the city was destroyed. The 
remainder, abandoned to pillage and deserted 
by its inhabitants, otfered no resources to 
the invading army. Moscow was conquer¬ 
ed; but the victors had gained only a heap 
of ruins. It is estimated that 38,800 houses 
were consumed, and the total value of prop¬ 
erty destroyed amounted to $150,000,000. 

After a Great Fire, 

"Life has gone out as well as property. 
Men have been crushed bv falling walls while 
trying to save property; firemen have been 
overtaken by the flames while. doing their 
duty. Men will be missing, and friends'will 
speak of them as having been swallowed up 
in the great fire. New entries will be made 


X 




SKETCHES. 


233 


in the journals of business men, in the com- 
munit}" and in the family; they will date 
back to the great fire. It will be a turning- 
point in men’s lives; a starting-point. To a 
great many it will be a start from the bottom 
of the ladder. They must go over again all 
the hard struggles, fight the great battles, 
meet and conquer difficulties. They were 
o^oin^: to take things easv the remainder of 
life. Gray hairs have come in fighting the 
battles of the past. The brain tires, the 
limbs grow w^eary, the hands hang down as 
they did not in former years. It is hard to 
think of it. There is a choking in the 
throat. And if now and then a tear starts 
unbidden to the eve, wffio will not re- 
spect it? There is manliness in tears. The 
man is to be pitied who cannot weep at his 
own* or at others’ misfortunes. But the men 
who reared those structures now consumed 
are not of those who wring their hands and 



234 


THE FIKEMEN. 


make loud lamentations over disaster. How 
calmly they gaze upon the ruin ! With what 
clearness they look at the future! How 
prompt to plan, how quick to execute! 
While the spot is still an abyss of flame and 
smoke they are contracting for new edifices 
that shall be more substantial, more palatial 
than those that have crumbled to dust and 
ashes. But sweeter and more fragrant is the 
flower, that, while the flames are raging, 
unfolds its blossom in city and town and 
hamlet,— loveliest flower of the celestial 
graces,—Charity. The world presses its ben¬ 
efactions upon us. The telegraph makes us 
neighbors. Christianity has made us broth¬ 
ers. The whole human race is our kin ; and 
while the fire burns, this one call comes to 
us from the prairies, from beyond the Sierra 
Xevadas, and from across the Atlantic, 

' What can we do for you ? ’ It is the an¬ 
them followinir the hymn sun" by the an"els 


SKETCHES. 


235 


of Bethlehem, 'Good-will to men,’ and it is 
the best part of the story of a Great Fire.” 

And there shall he no more Fires, 

Did you ever, reader, contemplate upon 
the probability that the time may come, and 
that, too, in the no very remote future, when 
there wdll be no need for fire-extin^uishinoc 
apparatus, nor for firemen? That such may 
be the case is not improbable, for there will 
be no conflagrations when fire-proof construc¬ 
tion becomes universal; and such construc¬ 
tion will be universal whenever there is no 
combustible material with which to build. 

That the era of wood is fast passing away, 
must be apparent to all thoughtful observers, 
and at the present rate of destruction of the 
world’s forests, there must soon be a dearth 
of timber. Whole provinces on the Eastern 
continent have been denuded of their timber- 
trees during the last fifty years, while on 



236 


THE FIREMEN. 


this continent the trees which have imbibed 
the sunshine and battled the storms of cen¬ 
turies are disappearing at a rate very largely 
in excess of the natural growths. The tim¬ 
ber and lumber forests of Maine, Michigan, 
Oregon, and Canada are falling before the 
assaults of the woodmen with their axes, at 
a ratio to growth greater than geometrical 
progression; the yearly ” cut ” being more 
than bounteous Nature furnishes during a 
decade. 

It can, therefore, be but a matter of limited 
time when the loggers’ occupation will be 
gone, and when ships, habitations, and marts 
of trade wull have to be constructed of mate¬ 
rial unburnable, for there will be none other. 
Then the last fire department may disband 
without detriment to the community, and 
somebody may issue another edition of this 
book announcing the fact in a postscript, 
closing with the word — " Finis ! ” 


SKETCHES. 


237 


The Fireman, 

‘ Oft, when our populace is sleeping, 

(Save those who nightly watch our keeping,) 
When silence broods o’er hill and dale. 

And shadows cross the moonbeams pale, 

A cry is heard amid the gloom — 

The warning of impending doom — 

Fire ! Fire ! Fire ! 


‘ The fireman, from his slumbers waking, 

At once his quiet home forsaking, 

Regardless of both health and life, 

Rushes to the deadly strife. 

While still the cry of wild despair 
Is wafted on the midnight air. 

Fire ! Fire 1 Fire ! 

‘ Though winds and tempests howl around him. 
Yet these combined do not confound him ; 

He strives his courage to maintain, 

Spite of the stormy hurricane. 

As higher, and still higher, rise 

The flames enraged, to meet the skies — 

Fire ! Fire ! Fire ! 


‘ Fearless, he leaps into the danger. 
Saves the goods of friend or stranger— 
Saves, perchance, some precious life 
Of father, husband, child, or wife. 
(Such deeds the fireman oft hath done, 
And thus immortal honors won,) 

Nor tires he till the joyful shout : 

All out! All out! ” 


238 


THE FIREMEN. 


Burning of the Tenement Building, 

“ One, Two, Three, Four ! 

The fire alarm comes loudly tolling, 

Over the roofs of the city rolling, 

And dying away on the island shore. 

“ One, two, three, four ! 

Engines over the pavements leaping. 

While lusty tides of the firemen sweeping 
Down through the channelled avenues pour. 

“ One, two, three, four ! 

The panting foreman’s trumpet bellows, 

‘ Pull her along and jump her, fellows 1 
All your muscle, and something more ! ’ 

“ One, two, three, four ! 

The shrieking crowds of the boys that follow. 
The cries of the firemen hoarse and hollow. 
Startle the night with a fitful roar. 

“ One, two, three, .four ! 

The red sliirts down to their labor settle ; 
Every fellow is full of mettle, 

Muscle, and courage, and something more. 

“ One, two, three, four ! 

The owner hears the fire-bell toll; 

It is his district — but, bless your soul! 

All is insured, and fires are a bore ! 

“ The tenement buildings are red and flaring. 

The narrow street with the crowd is choking. 
The opposite houses are hot and smoking. 

The windows like bloodshot eyes are glaring. 


SKETCHES. 


239 


“ Golden jets, like fiery fountains, 

Over the tall roofs leap and spatter ; 

Till, struck by the wind, they break and scatter, 
While ever the smoke piles up like mountains. 

“ Fire, fire, fire, fire ! 

Hark to the roar of its hollow laughter, 

As it swirls all over each rotten rafter, 

Drunk with the heat of its own desire ! 

See how the jets from the hose-pipes battle 
All in vain with the floods so furious ; 

Hark to those sounds so hollow and curious. 

Like mournful lowing of distant cattle I 

“ See how the blinded firemen clamber, 

Step by step, up the smoking ladder ; 

And how the fire grows madder, madder. 

As it thrusts them off from that stifling chamber I 

“ See how the crowds that are watching shiver. 

As they see in the midst of that tide abhorrent 
A black shape flash through the golden torrent, 
Like one that drowns in a fiery river ! 

“ See that woman at the window flicker. 

Holding a child in her hands and shrieking. 

Ah ! she’s gone, even while we’re speaking. 

And every heart in the crowd grows sicker. 

“ List to that sound that so hollowly rumbles ! 

The firemen pause, for they know what’s brewing, 
Then down with a roar, in a crimson ruin. 

The tenement building tumbles.” 


2-iO 


THE riREMEX. 


SPARKS. 

-•o*- 

“ From dome to dome the flames infuriate climb, 
Sweep the long street, invest the tower sublime. 

Gild the tall vanes amid th’ astonished night, 

And reddening heavens return the sanguine/light; 
While with vast strides and bristling hair aloof. 

Pale Danger glides along the falling roof. 

And Giant Terror, hov/ling in amaze. 

Moves his dark limbs across the lurid blaze. ” 

** On the occasion of the burning of a 
Methodist book-store, in New York, among 
the burning fragments of books and printed 
sheets whirled aloft upon the wings of the 
flames, and borne onward upon those of the 
wind, was a page of the Bible containing the 
64th chapter of Isaiah. It was picked up 
about twelve miles distant, on Lontr Island, 

'O' 

and before the catastrophe was known there. 
Every word of the page was so marred as to 
be illegible, save the eleventh verse, which 
reads — "Our holy and beautiful house. 




SPARKS. 

* 


241 


where our fathers praised Thee, is burned up 

with fire ; and all our pleasant things are laid 
waste ! ” 

It has been demonstrated that after 
water has reached a temperature of 212 
degi’ees Fahrenheit, or commenced to boil, 
five and a half times as much heat is neces- 

V 

sary to convert it into steam as was neces¬ 
sary to raise it from the freezing to the 
boiling-point. This is usually expressed by 
saying that 990 heat-units are necessary to 
convert 1 lb. of boiling water into steam. 

** In proportion to the population, it is 
stated that of the large cities in the United 
States, the Boston, Mass., Fire Department 
is the most expensive, while the Fire Depart¬ 
ment of Baltimore, Md., is the least expen¬ 
sive. 

** "The story of the Great (Boston) Fire,” 
as told by "Carlton,” and illustrated by Bil- 


16 


242 


THE iTHEMEN. 


lings, made a book of thirty-two pages, 
which sold for 75 cents. 

** Calling fire an ^'element” is a common 
and convenient mode of expression ; but fire 
is not an element at all, being only a result 
of combustion, — a uniting of oxygen and 
carbon. 

** The Emperor Trajan, writing to Pliny, 
who was Governor of Bithynia, and who 
had asked instructions from headquarters in 
regard to raising a company of professional 
firemen, said that they were not the most 
peaceable citizens possible, and that "'they 
would not fail to form themselves into fac¬ 
tious assemblies.” 

« 

** The latest effort to make wood incom¬ 
bustible subjects it to a " pickling ” process 
in a solution of tungstate of soda and 'water, 
of the specific gravity of 1.2, the tungstate 
being made by the addition of tungstate of 
lime to hydrochloric acid and salt. It is 




SPARKS. 


243 


claimed that the pickle renders soft woods 
hard and unburnable. 

** Of all the diabolical individuals, next to 
deliberate and cold-blooded murderers, ”fire 
bugs ” are the most dangerous to a com¬ 
munity. Why such beings should exist is 
one of the mysteries which God has not seen 
fit to explain ; but it is the duty of society to 
protect itself, and no better way is apparent 
than to shoot the incendiary at sight, or to 
hang him forthwith. It is often difficult to 
catch the ” bug,” but when smoked out a 
finality in behalf of safety should ensue. 

** A poet has sung of woman as one who 
''scatters roses of bliss on man’s thorn- 
covered ways.” It would conduce to the 
public safety if she would oftener spank and 
"scatter” the small boys who play with 
friction-matches. 

There is a popular notion that sun¬ 
light has a tendency to put out fire; but 



244 


THE FIREMEN. 


experiments prove that light does not at all 
eflfect the process of combustion. 

** While the firemen of Baltimore, Md., 
at a fire in 1868, were digging victims out 
of the ruins of a building, James W. Som¬ 
mers, a comrade, said: "I can hold out a 
little longer; take care of some one who is 
suffering more.” He died a martyr to his 
own heroism. 

** The chief of the Charleston, S.C., Fire 
Department states that on the 11th and 12th 
of December, 1861, about twelve hundred 
houses were destroyed b}^ fire in that city. 

** Some time during the sixteenth century, 
Michael Angelo translated into the Tuscan 
tongue an old Latin work on metal mining, 
and in this described a method of disintegrat¬ 
ing or breaking rocks by fire. A furnace, 
mounted on wheels, is closed all around 
except at the back, where the flame has an 
outlet through which to play upon .the rock 



SPARKS. 


245 


to be excavated. At the front is a blower 
suitably connected with the furnace, and 
serving the double purpose of providing air 
to maintain combustion, and of directins: the 
flame through the opening against the rock. 
The machine being run into position, the 
rock, to a considerable depth, is heated to a 
high temperature, whereupon the apparatus 
is drawn back and a pump jets cold water 
against the surface. This causes the stone 
to fracture and split. • 

Much leather hose is prematurely in¬ 
jured by being treated with slushes^ under 
the name of " leather preservatives.” Vege¬ 
table and fish oils should never be used, but 
beef tallow, mixed with ueat’s-foot oil, ap¬ 
plied warm, before the hose is quite dry, 
serves to a good purpose. Whatever is 
cheaper is less etfective as a preservative. 

** The total length of water-pipes, Jan- 
uarv, 1875, in New York, was 400 miles; 



246 


THE FIREMEN. 


Chicago, 350; Brooklyn, 300; Boston, 350; 
Baltimore, 210; Detroit, 170; St. Louis, 
150; Montreal, 110; Louisville, 75; Cleve¬ 
land, 70; Jersey City, 60; Milwaukee, 40. 

** The New York Fire Department is com¬ 
posed of ten battalions, with forty-two steam- 
engine conipanies, and a total of 738 men. 
There is connected with it an organization 
of Sappers and Miners, whose duty it is, in 
cases of necessity, to blow up buildings and 
top[)le over walls witb an explosive known 
as dymnamite, [A boy wdio got blowed over 
by the stuff, called it "dam-it.”] 

** Anybody who has not heard wonderful 
stories about firemen’s dogs has not been 
through smoke, nor visited an engine-house. 
Some of the ” dog yarns ” are spun from facts, 
while others are twisted from bow-wows of 
doubtful authenticity. 

** Firemen should respect themselves if 
they would have the respect of other people. 


SPARKS. 


247 


A man may be a man, if inclination or duty 
persuade him to tight tire; but to tight the 
"tiger” of evil by embracing it, a man is no 
man at all. 

** Mr. Fred. J. Miller, of New York, ad¬ 
vertises that he is prepared to till orders for 
firemen’s supplies, from a badge to a steamer. 
His business circulars are illustrated, and 
abound with matter interesting to firemen, 
lie is an enterprising and "square man.” 

** Death and fire have all seasons, and it 
were well were all people always ready for 
either or both. Reader, is your "escape” at 
hand and in order, and are you " insured in 
safe offices”? 

** Among the unsolved problems are how 
^best to suppress prairie and forest fires, 
burning cargoes of cotton, oils and chem¬ 
icals. Some enthusiastic fire commissioners 
invoked "science” on the subject, but the 
sums don’t solve. 


248 


THE FIREMEN. 


The "Automatic System” of fire alarm, 
which is in operation in many of the smaller 
cities, answers w^ell the purposes desired, 
and, though loaded with " patents,” is Jess ex¬ 
pensive than the " Central System.” By the 
"automatic ” plan an alarm at the box sounds 
directly on the gongs and bells, without the 
aid of a grand head-centre operator. 

** Underwriter Hope calls coal oil, of a 
standard below 150 degrees, "hell fluid”! 
He hopes all such oil may be tempered to a 
degree of safety; to which the response 
should be, — " So hope we all.” 

** The Chief of the Pittsburg, Pa., Fire 
Department has an avoirdupoise of 288, 
w^hile the Chief of the Fall River, Mass., 
Department tallies less than half of that force, 
of numericals. Both are mighty men at 
fires. 

** The velocity of streams of water, flow¬ 
ing from higher to lower levels, is invariably 


SPARKS. 


249 


and directly proportionate to their depth, di¬ 
minishing and increasing therewith; the great¬ 
est velocity is at the surface, the least at the 
bottom, and the mean velocity at half the 
depth; the increase of velocity as the sur¬ 
face is approached is in the simple ratio of 
the distance from the bottom; the volume 
of the flow may be found by multiplying 
the breadth by the average depth, and the 
resulting product by the mean velocity. It 
has been demonstrated that the centres of 
streams of water projected through fire-hose 
and nozzles move faster than the other por¬ 
tions of the water. 

** A flouring-mill at Milwaukee was burn¬ 
ed a few years since from a candle held near 
a bran or feed-spout reaching from the 
upper to a lower floor, and similar catas¬ 
trophes have occurred at other places, the 
flames in every instance breaking out sud¬ 
denly from contact of fire with the dust or 


250 


THE FIREMEN. 


powder floating in the mill or passing 
through the spouts. All lights used in such 
mills should be covered with wire gauze. 

** Metropolitan Fire Departments involve 
the application of a " code ” as follows : All 
candidates are strictly examined; no boys, 
old men or unsound men are accepted; the 
sick and wounded are properly cared for; 
unfit and incompetent officers and men are 
eliminated from the force; officers are only 
commissioned and promoted upon a fair and 
thorough examination; and no man is ac¬ 
cepted or excluded by reason of his birth, 
position, politics,‘nationality or religion. 

** The Nashville, Tenn., fire alarm tel¬ 
egraph is considered an improvement on the 
common automatic system ; by it only the 
alarm from one box will be sounded, al¬ 
though there ma^’ be others turned on from 
different boxes. The first box turned on 
invariably has the right of way, and cannot 
bo interfered with. 


SPARKS. 


251 


** On the morning of September 19th, 
1874, a large cotton factory, known as Gran¬ 
ite Mill, at Fall River, Mass., took fire and 
was destroyed, involving a large loss of life. 
Why may not each Avindow in the higher 
stories of such buildings be provided with a 
flexible wire cable ladder, Avith one end per¬ 
manently fastened to the windoAV-sill and the 
ladder coiled till wanted to be let down in 
case of fire ? It Avould seem that if ladders 
for such purposes AA^ere made nearly as Avide 
as the windows, and of sufficient length to 
reach to the ground at an angle of, say, forty- 
five degrees, the loAA^er ends might be secured 
Avith spikes by the firemen or spectators, 
thus affording easy and safe "escapes” to 
timid or frightened Avomen. 

The most forcible and fiery contribu¬ 
tion,' probably, ever made to "resolution” 
literature Avas on the occasion of the disband¬ 
ing of the Boston Fire Department in 1837. 


252 


THE FIREMEN. 


Every company " went out ” of service hurl¬ 
ing indignation at the city officials, in the 
form of "cards” expressive of "our senti¬ 
ments,” and each series of "resolves” were 
prefaced by little texts of sarcastic bitter¬ 
ness. 

At a parade of the Fire Department 
in West Troy, N. Y., one of the hose car¬ 
riages, a "veteran,” was placarded: "Old 
age demands rest.” "Long and active ser¬ 
vice is worthy of recognition.” " Thirty years’ 
active service.” "I ain’t so young as I used 
to be.” "Built in New York, 1844; run in 
Philadelphia ten years, Poughkeepsie eight 
years, Lansingburgh four years. Cohoes 
eight years.” "I cannot last forever.” 

** The number of regularly organized 
Fire Departments in the United States is 
said to be thirteen hundred. 

** Many companies operating hand en¬ 
gines have mottoes which jire attached to the 


SPARKS. 


253 


machines, and form rallying cries, such as — 
"Wc Will Endeavor;” We’ll Be There;” 
"Always Keady ; ” "Faithful and Fearless ;” 
"We Serve;” "Where Duty Calls, There 
You’ll Find Us ; ” " We Are at The Front; ” 
"Before we Limber Up, pass the Words 
'All Out.’” 

** Fireman, — "I say. Citizen, did you 
go to the lire last night?” Citizen, — "No, 
I do not run with the machine, and so I 
never turn out when there are lire alarms, 
unless my bed-room walls are hot.” Fire- 
man, — "Sensible. I wish there were more 
like you; for the fact is, great crowds of 
spectators at fires are great nuisances.” 

** Men of science have demonstrated that 
the heat Avhich is thrown out from each 
square yard of the sun’s surface is as great 
as that which would be produced by burning 
six tons of coal on it each hour. Will the 
sun forever supply light, heat, and chemical 


THE FIKEMEN. 



force ? The aforesaid " men of science ” af¬ 
firm that it will not; but that it will, in due 
time, "weld with all its surrounding planets, 
and roll, a cold black ball, through infinite 
space.” 

** Fire seems to have got the best of the 
moon, and gone out. Astronomers, with 
their telescopes and spectroscopes, have dis¬ 
covered that there is no atmosphere or water 
there, and extinct volcanoes everywhere 
abound on the surface and deep into the 
bowels of " Pale Luna ”; appearances indi¬ 
cate that there must once have been hot 
times thereabouts. 

** About thirty-five years ago a mob 
burned a convent in Somerville, Mass., and 
the scenes then and there enacted were a 
disgrace to New England notions of fair 
play. Some of the firemen made worse 
than fools of themselves on the occasion, by 
sympathizing with the rampant mob spirit. 


SPAKKS. 


255 


One fellow stood upon his engine and at¬ 
tempted to auction off some articles taken 
from the burning building. The despotism 
of a mob, be it of border ruffians or firemen, 
is unreasonable and cruel. They who would 
commit unlawful violence should bear in 
mind the fact that though the mills of the 
gods seem to grind slowly, they do, never¬ 
theless, grind surely toward exact justice. 

** The monkey tribe have not the instinct 
or reason to extinguish fire; but in case of 
fire breaking out in their haunts, they inva¬ 
riably "scoot.” Now the question arises, if 
Darwinism be true, how did the primitive 
man sret his notion to do a little water-throw- 
ing when his cabin got ablaze? He certainly 
did not inherit the propensit}^ from his 
grandfather Ape. 

** Mr. Carpenter sharpens tools on an 
oil-stone, and in doing so spills oil upon the 
saw-dust which is laying around loose. This 
saw-dust sifts through between the crevices 


256 


THE FIREMEN. 


of the first flooring, after which a second 

V 

and tight floor is laid, leaving the oiled saw¬ 
dust to slumber. After a while, however, it 
may he months, the oiled dust oxydizes, 
combustion ensues, and "a most m 3 ’sterious 
conflagration ” is reported. 

** It is interesting to observe how adroitly- 
an ambitious flreman will get into his boots, 
breeches and coat, while on the run for his 
engine-house, in order to be the first man 
there. The performance looks a little ridicu¬ 
lous, but the sensation is delightful to the per¬ 
former, if he but wins the trumpet or the neap. 

** Parties desiring more special informa¬ 
tion relative to the subject-matter of this 
volume, may communicate with the pub¬ 
lisher, who has complete lists of all the 
manufacturers of fire extinguishing appara¬ 
tus, and the dealers in Firemen’s Supplies. 

** Here ends Patchwork, with its 
Weft and Woof of Fire. 







■'-■■/v-V 31 


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